It was a very familiar foe that stood in the way of the Tippecanoe Red Devils volleyball team last week at Fairborn High School, as the hometown squad looked to advance into the district finals.

After two easy wins this season against league-foe Greenville during the season, Tippecanoe disposed of the Green Wave in the district semis 25-11, 25-16, 25-14 to easily improve to 23-1 on the season.

“We started slow but recovered with strong net play and very consistent aggressive serving that broke down their attack,” Tippecanoe coach Howard Garcia said. I love our defensive energy and our ability to counter the attack even in difficult situations.”

Greenville opened the first game with some momentum jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead before the Red Devils used a pair of service points from Jenna Krimm to tie the game at 4-4. Savannah Clawson threw down a big kill to tie the game.

The last tie in the game was at five before Clawson reeled off four straight points to give Tipp their biggest early lead of the game at 9-5. The Green Wave did not go away, closing their deficit to 10-7 before Tipp took over.

Emily Aselage put together six straight points thanks to Clawson at the net, giving Tipp a 19-8 lead Bri Morris then served Tipp to the edge of victory before Greenville broke serve. Tipp closed out the game and took game one.

Again in game two, Greenville hung around only trailing 9-7 before Abbi Mader broke serve with a big kill and Tipp then put together a three-point run behind Morris’ serves. Tipp never looked back. Greenville did have a slight rally at the end of the second set but never threatened Tipp as the Red Devils put the game away with a kill from Clawson.

Tipp opened a 6-6 tie in the third set with Genna Kinsman served six straight to give Tipp an 11-6 lead. Morris then added seven in a row, putting the Red Devils up 19-7 and they never looked back.

“We have to give a lot of credit to our setters by their great setting choices and pushing the team to play in system,” Garcia said. “It was a good win and onto districts.”

Clawson led Tipp with 11 kills, Morris had 20 assists and Faith Siefring led Tipp with 15 digs.

*It was an improbable comeback, but the Red Devils had a huge comeback victory in the district finals against New Richmond.

After Tipp lost the first two sets 25-22, 25-23, the Red Devils completely turned the tables and won set three 25-14 and set four 25-19 to set up a thrilling fifth set.

The Red Devils hung on for an exciting 15-13 victory to advance to the regional semis this Thursday, 6 p.m. at Lakota East. The winners return on Saturday for a trip to the State Final Four.