COLUMBIANA — It was a night of some surprises for one team and a reprisal of what has been an ongoing story for another.

Top-seeded Mineral Ridge got back on the court for the first time in eight days in their Division IV sectional bracket final against Southern Local and swept the Indians Thursday night at Columbiana High School.

In the second matchup, the Western Reserve Blue Devils (16-8) and the Springfield Tigers (19-4) met for the third time on the year after splitting the first two.

“We were confident in our play, but not downplaying our opponent,” Springfield coach Angela Jones said. “We knew they were a strong team. We knew they’d be coming for us. We just kept thinking we have it. We had to have the mentality.”

After splitting the first two sets (Springfield 25-20, Western Reserve 25-19) the Blue Devils held a 17-14 advantage only to see the Tigers seize the momentum and outscore Western Reserve 11-4 to take the third set 25-21.

“We struggled in the first set with some serve receive,” Western Reserve coach Jennifer Lorenzi said. “We got ourselves behind. We did make a change in our lineup in the second set that helped. We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew they did things well.”

Then the ongoing saga of injuries reared it’s head again for the Blue Devils when Dani Vuletich hurt her knee with Western Reserve trailing 3-1 in the fourth set. She didn’t return and Western Reserve saw Springfield build its lead in the decisive game to close it out 25-11 for a 3-1 win and a third matchup with Mineral Ridge.

That matchup will come Wednesday in a district semifinal.

Lyndsey Smith led the Tigers with 12 kills and 6 blocks while Lauren Ranelli added 33 assists, five aces, 11 digs, and 14 points.

“It’s unfortunate,” Jones said. “Dani’s a great player. She’s their star. She’s a force to be reckoned with. The girls still knew what they needed to do and we had the momentum at that point. We just wanted to keep the ball over and in. We wanted to give them something to work with.

“We were trying to contain Dani. We had to try and take her out of the plays. I felt like we sort of did that. We tried to build off of our strength which is serving. At times when our defense wasn’t where it needed to be, we picked our strength and kept rolling with that.”

With all the time off between games, the Rams players got a chance to relax.

“I did give the kids three days off, a mental shutdown,” Mineral Ridge coach Ron Lesko said. “I got them out of the gym to rest some injuries. We tried to give them some time to recover. Mentally and physically, going through a season where you are 21-1, it’s taxing. I felt like my kids needed a break.”

Southern (9-15), which came in as an eighth seed, gave the Rams (22-1) all they could handle in the first and third sets but came up short, with Mineral Ridge getting the 3-0 sweep, 26-24, 25-14, 25-21.

The opening set told those in attendance it wasn’t going to be easy as the Rams were down 24-19 when Lesko took a timeout to rally his team.

“It’s what I tell the kids all the time,” Lesko said. “We have to have heart. When we’re down in a situation like that, I tell them, ‘let’s get some momentum.’ If we get our momentum and carry it through because we need to get things going our way. That is really what I resort to. We need to get the momentum no matter how this turns out.”

That surge and momentum allowed Mineral Ridge to score the next seven points to get that opening-set win.

“They’re a well-coached team,” Lesko said. “You can throw records out the window. I told my kids all year long, people are coming for you. They know what your record is. They want to take you down. This is their chance to get in the spotlight. I think we see everyone’s best effort time and time again.

“They’re scrappy. They’re like us, they pass well. They dug a lot of balls. They didn’t let it hit the ground. They were throwing their bodies around. That’s how they can be successful.”

Katelyn Lesko led the Rams with 17 kills and 22 digs and Danielle Aulet added 35 assists. Maddie Carl had 11 digs and Riley Ladd added 11 kills.