Sallie Montgomery returns a shot as Miami East player Jaycee Roeth defends.

Photos Ron Nunnari | The Register-Herald

Caylee Hatmaker scores a kill early in the third set.

Emma Fields (left) and Macy Price go up to block a shot by Miami East’s Skyla Kerns.

BROOKVILLE — They were two teams headed in opposite directions. Miami East had won it last eight volleyball matches while Preble Shawnee had lost its last eight.

That trend continued Saturday when the two teams met in the Division V, Southwest 3 sectional tournament.

Shawnee lost a lot of experienced players to graduation, but the Lady Arrows held an early lead in the first set. They played a very competitive match with the score tied 18-18 before East took a two point lead and eventually won the set, 25-22.

“We graduated a lot of strength. We do have a lot of seniors but not many of them had significant varsity experience, it was kind of role players,” said Shawnee coach Brody Rike. “We had a couple of girls that played three spots and had some varsity experience, so we had a lot of girls getting varsity experience for the first time this year.”

East opened up 7-1 lead in the second set and led by as many as 11 points before claiming the set, 25-10. The third set was almost identical with East rolling to a 25-11 win.

With the loss the Lady Arrows conclude their season at 7-16 overall while the Lady Vikings improved to 17-6. Miami East, the No. 4 seed, advances to face No. 5 seed West Liberty-Salem on Oct. 23 at Brookville.

“I’ve been pretty happy with our front row,” Rike said. “We haven’t been as strong as we’ve been in the past, but these girls have gotten better throughout the season. They had a lot of big holes to fill after the athletes we’ve had in the past and I think the girls did that well.”

Reach Ron Nunnari at (937) 684-9124 or email [email protected].