***Madalyn Verscha is a participant of The Kewanee Voice Student Journalism Program, funded by the Harry Anderson Memorial Trust.

On Thursday night, the Wethersfield eighth-grade volleyball team took on the Stark County Rebels in the regional championship. 

The Rebels started the first set with the serve. At the beginning, both teams fought back and forth for possession of the ball. 

As the Geese started to pull ahead, the Rebels’ coach called a timeout, with the score at 10-4. 

But the Geese kept the momentum, leading to another timeout call from the Rebels. The score was still in favor of the Geese at 16-6. 

The Geese continued to work together on offense and defense and won the first set 25-11. 

The Geese served at the start of the second set and set the tone, gaining an early lead of 8-1.

Great communication on the court and solid hits at the net allowed the Geese to pull ahead. Stark County called another timeout in an effort to stop the momentum and shorten the lead of 16-6.

The last timeout seemed to do the trick and the Rebels battled back with a score of 20-16.

But those were the last points that Stark County would put on the board as the Geese ran away with the set winning with a score of 25-16.

The eighth grade will now play on Monday at 6 p.m. against McNabb in Seneca. 

On Friday night, the seventh-grade team plays at the state tournament in Brimfield against Morrisonville. The game will begin at 5:45 p.m.