DISTRICT 4 VOLLEYBALL: SAYRE SWEEPS NEB; EARNS RIGHT TO DEFEND CLASS A TITLE (18 PHOTOS) (October 2, 2026)

By CHRIS MANNING
Valley Sports Report
ATHENS — It's always tough to beat the same team three times, but Sayre coach Colby Sangrey was ready for NEB in their 3-0 win over the Panthers during District IV, Class A Volleyball semifinal action Monday.

"The message was just find ways to side-out," he said. "Both times we played them in the regular (season), they took a set off us. 

"They played scrappy, both times and tonight," added Sangrey. "Defensively, they don't let a lot of stuff drop, so, for us, if they're going to do that, we just need to find ways to limit our mistakes."

Early on, Sayre had some trouble finding the floor as NEB pushed to set scores of 25-17 and 25-21, but by the third set their offense had found their rhythm with a 25-15 win.

"We did clean it up a little bit," said Sangrey. "That's still something we want to work on, limiting the number of points we give the other team, but definitely as we ended the second set, and the third set went on we started to see it."

Junior Reghan McGaughey had 14 kills, 14 digs, and an ace for the Redskins, and junior Yhale Doon had 20 assists, three aces, one kill, and five digs.

Junior Grace Russo finished with 16 digs, and three aces, and Alex Schack had 10 digs, with three aces.

Senior Azelea McClenny finished with six kills, and a dig, while freshman Ember Jones registered two kills, and two blocks. Freshman Mylee Medina chipped in with six digs, and junior Emily Strickland notched a dig.

For NEB, Onaleigh Gardner had seven kills, four digs, and one ace for the Panthers with Ella Cooley getting eight assists, and three aces.

Adalyn Burgert had four assists, one dig, and an ace, while Summer Morris added three kills. Brianna Pelka had two kills, with Cora Pousen getting one kill.

Orissa Gardner had two digs, with Dailee Gow adding one dig.

It was back-and-forth early in the first set as neither team got a lead of more than three points.

It was 3-3 when Sayre went a 3-0 run behind two aces from Schack. NEB would close the gap, out scoring them 4-1 as their defense forced the Redskins into a few hitting error.

With the match tied up at 7-7, McGaughey gave Sayre the lead with a kill, only for Onaleigh to come back with a kill for the Panthers.

After an NEB attack into the net, Pelka had a kill to make it 9-9.

Sayre followed with a three straight points, behind kills from Doon and McClenny. Back-to-back Sayre errors saw NEB cut it to 12-11, but the Redskins came back with three straight points to take a 15-11 lead, forcing an NEB timeout.

NEB would get a point coming out of the break for a 15-12 score, and after the two teams traded points, a McClenny kill made it 16-14.

That sparked a 4-2 run from Sayre as they built a 20-16 lead. Three straight aces from Russo made it 23-16, with Onaleigh getting a kill to end the run.

McClenny came back with a kill for Sayre, then a Panther freeball landed out, giving the Redskins the first-set win.

Sayre opened the second set with back-to-back aces from Doon, but NEB rallied with five straight, ending on a Burgert ace for the 5-2 lead.

The Redskins chipped away, cutting it to 6-5 on a McGaughey kill. After the teams traded points, NEB went on a 4-0 run behind three aces from Cooley, to take an 11-6 lead.

That's as big a lead as they would have all night, and they had it twice more - 12-7, and 13-8 - before Sayre chipped away, scoring four straight points for a 13-12 game.

After a Pelka kill made it a 2-point set Sayre would score three straight for a 15-14 lead.

A Panther block made it 15-15, and the teams would tie again at 16-all before Sayre scored two straight to take an 18-16 lead.

NEB cut it to one point again as a Sayre attack ended in the net, but McGaughey responded with back-to-back kills for a 20-17 lead.

NEB hung around, cutting int to 22-20 on a Morris ace, but a kill from McClenny, and an ace out from McGaughey put them on the brink.

Two points later, McClenny had a kill that gave them the 4-point win.

The third set started competitive, with the teams tied at five, when Sayre went on a 3-0 spurt for an 8-5 lead.

NEB chipped away, cutting it to 9-8 after a Sayre hitting error, and eventually tying it up on a Burgert ace at 10-10.

The teams stayed tied through 12-12 when three straight NEB hitting errors put them down 15-12.

Sayre returned the favor with a serve into the net to make it a 2-point set, but back-to-back kills from Jones made it 17-13.

From there the Redskins out scored NEB 8-2 to pull away for the win.

Sayre will defend its District title against MMI Prep, who defeated Sugar Valley 3-0 in the other semifinal. The first serve is slated for 4 p.m. back at Athens on Thursday.

"We're going to play Sayre volleyball," Sangrey said. "We've played a lot of volleyball this season, we've played some really good volleyball. We're defensively focused, being smart offensively, and just finding ways to get runs on offense, and just playing every point like it's the last one."

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IN PHOTO 1: Sayre's Reghan McGaughey. ... PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING.

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