SPRING VALLEY -- All it took was one wake-up call for Spring Valley's volleyball team to show Saturday why it's No. 1 in Class AAA.

On the brink of seeing its season end, Spring Valley used a comeback against Ripley in the semifinal as momentum to earn its first Class AAA, Region IV volleyball championship with a 3-1 win over Parkersburg.

"This is the first time for this school to ever have a region championship in volleyball. Parkersburg has always dominated it," Spring Valley coach Joy Bailey said. "It feels awesome to have it at home so our fans could see it."

Tied at one set each with Ripley in the semifinal, Spring Valley watched as the Vikings took a 21-11 lead in game 3 and appeared ready to take command of the match.

Bailey called a timeout to regroup her frazzled team.

"I just looked at them and said 'Girls, just think. This would be the greatest comeback ever for us. One point at a time and you can do it'," Bailey said. "Right after that, we got the serve and just kept rolling with Halley (Porter's) serve. We kept getting free balls off of her serve so we could set up for the kill. After that game, I knew they'd do well."

Spring Valley went on to win 15 of the final 18 points of the game to earn a dramatic 26-24 victory in the pivotal third game. The Timberwolves then finished off the Vikings and advanced to the state tournament with a 25-12 win in the clinching fourth set.

The momentum carried into the championship where Spring Valley avenged its loss to Parkersburg last week in the Mountain State Athletic Conference tournament.

As in the MSAC tournament, a big first set win was followed by a letdown as the Big Reds knotted the match with a 27-25 win in game 2.

From there, the Timberwolves took over with a strong all-around effort, sweeping the final two sets. 25-16 and 25-12.

Each time the Big Reds mounted a rally, the defense was there to dig the ball out. The defensive effort translated to offensive momentum as the Timberwolves got in system and setter Cadara Cole got the ball to Hannah Bailey and Sarah Burns to finish off point after point during the final two sets.

Bailey notched double-doubles in each match Saturday. She finished with 12 kills and 23 digs against Ripley while amassing 16 kills and 19 digs in the win over Parkersburg.

Kyla McClendon finished with 26 and 21 digs respectively in the two matches for Spring Valley.

The top two teams from each of the state's four regions advance to next week's state tournament in Charleston.

Parkersburg advanced to the region championship with a three-set victory over Cabell Midland in early semifinal action on Saturday.

Cabell Midland got 11 points from Haley Pauley in the season-ending loss.

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