STEUBENVILLE – Senior night was a success for the Catholic Central volleyball team.

Malvern battled Catholic Central, but the Crusaders made the plays down the stretch in all three sets to sweep the Hornets, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22, Monday night inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium.

“We played well,” Catholic Central (11-8) head coach Sherri Barber said. “We had one of the worst warmups of the season. I was a little bit leery.

“Malvern has a nice team for being 4-14. The only time we usually see them is in the tournament. We usually play them in the tournament, and they usually beat us. This was my first time beating them.

“It is Senior Night, and it is nice to be able to get a win. We made some changes. We did some things different. It worked out. We ran our offense instead of playing defense.

“There was a nice crowd tonight.”

The match was close throughout as the Blue-and-Gold only ended the night with 11 more points scored than the visitors.

“No, they didn’t do anything different,” Barber said. “We just had our drawing. We usually only see them a tournament time. We usually lose to them. I have had some great teams where we were the No. 1 seed, they were 4-12 and they beat us. They are not a 4-14 team.”

Malvern (4-15) took a 9-5 lead in the first set, and Barber was forced to call a timeout with the girls in green out in front, 11-6. The girls in white battled back and tied the score at 19 before taking a 20-19 lead forcing Malvern to call a timeout.

The Hornets rallied to take a 23-22 lead, however, the Crusaders responded and scored the final three points of the set to win it by two to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Catholic Central took a 6-4 lead in the second set only to see Malvern fight back and take an 11-10 lead. Later, the Hornets led 15-12, but the Crusaders rallied to tie the score at 16. The girls from Carroll County took a 19-17 lead, however, the girls from Jefferson County responded and scored eight of the final nine points of the set to win by five to take a 2-0 lead.

The victors took a 19-10 lead in the third set, but the Hornets stormed back and pulled to within 19-16. Malvern got to within 23-21, but Catholic Central made the plays down the stretch to win the set by three and the match, 3-0.

Individually for Catholic Central, Lilly Balzano tallied 16 points, four aces, eight kills, 11 assists and three digs, Natalie Cherepko collected eight points, 10 kills, three assists, two blocks and eight digs and Ava Marcino contributed nine points, one ace, 24 kills, 28 assists, one block and two digs.

Also, Emily Walker recorded 14 points, one ace, seven kills and seven digs, Julia Nurczyk delivered 12 points, three kills, one block and five digs and Gianna Lemel produced 16 points, two aces, three kills, two blocks and four digs.

Prior to the start of the match, Catholic central honored its four seniors – Cherepko, Marcino, Walker and Balzano.

“It was nice that we were able to get a win for the seniors,” Barber said. “I am happy for them. I am happy that we played well.

“Now, it is tournament time. We want to keep getting better. We have to get ready for that.”

Catholic Central is scheduled to play in an OVAC consolation pool tri-match against Lisbon and Frontier starting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at home.

Catholic Central — the No. 6 seed — will play No. 12 seed Bishop Rosecrans in the sectional tournament Oct. 16 at home.