CHARLES CITY | The postseason backdrop to perhaps the biggest rivalry in Class 4A volleyball moved from Cedar Rapids to Charles City. Thursday night, the result remained the same.

For a third consecutive year, Charles City eliminated its Northeast Iowa Conference rival Waverly-Shell Rock from postseason play, 25-22, 25-15, 17-25, 25-16

This win came in the regional semifinals, following back-to-back meetings between these two schools won by Charles City in the state tournament.

A year ago the Comets rallied from two sets down to defeat the Go-Hawks in the opening round at state. This year, it was Wavelry-Shell Rock that nearly accomplished the feat.

Class 4A's No. 9 Go-Hawks (32-20) led 14-9 in midway through set four before No. 6 Charles City (40-4) went on a 10-0 run during Hali Hillegas' serve. The Comets finished off the match by winning 16 of the final 18 points, advancing to the regional finals against No. 10 Boone 7 p.m. Tuesday in Webster City.

"We really had to work together," Charles City senior setter and hitter Meagan Miller said. "We had to talk it out, keep the energy up. We had to just work hard as a team and come together. The energy was up."

Miller tallied a match-high 14 kills and was one three Comets to finish with at least 10 terminations. Hillegas added 12 kills and Jamie Sindlinger finished with 11.

It was a pair of back-to-back blocks by Sindlinger and Miller early during the Comets' 10-0 fourth set run that helped turned the tide in their team's favor. Sindlinger teamed up with Shay Carolan for a rejection on the final point of the run.

"Something that we talked about is we have to play with confidence all the time," Charles City coach Donna Forsyth said. "No matter what the score is we have to play with confidence. I think we had our middles close out and get a few key blocks in there, put the ball right down so it was just determination, and I think that built our momentum back up."

Charles City overcame seven service errors in an opening set in which the Comets rallied from down 13-9 with a five-point run. The pace of Charles City's attacks increased throughout the frame and Miller closed it out with kills for three of her final four points.

Continued here:

Comets climb one step closer to state - again