TIM WEIGHT/For the Express Central Mountain celebrates a point during a volleyball match against Loyalsock on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, at Central Mountain.

MILL HALL – Coming out of a timeout late in the fifth set, Central Mountain volleyball stood in great position to secure a huge win heading into postseason. Even as mistakes threatened to derail its chances, West Branch’s own mistakes coupled with strong responses had helped it extend the match to a fifth set, and a block from Sofia Kelley and Lilly Downing had just given it a 10-8 lead, five points away from victory.

But as the saying goes, one rally is often all it takes.

The Warriors played with extra urgency through the fourth and fifth, and with the help of three crucial kills from senior outside hitter Bella Koleno, it finally paid off. West Branch would put together a 7-1 run to close out the fifth on top, winning the battle of unbeatens, 3-2, behind set scores of 25-19, 15-25, 25-22, 21-25 and 15-11.

It was a tough loss for the Wildcats, who closed out the regular season with one blemish on their resume. Both their coaches and players felt they had more to give on Monday night in front of their home crowd, but they’ll look to bounce back where it truly counts at districts next week.

“I know that both teams have more potential in them. On our side, we didn’t finish setting our serves, kills and passes,” said Central Mountain senior Gabby Beaubrun on the loss. “We just didn’t do as well as we could’ve, but West Branch also played a pretty solid game, so I applaud them for that.”

“We didn’t bring our best game for sure,” emphasized Central Mountain head coach Chipp McCann. “I didn’t think West Branch really beat us; we just hurt ourselves. But hats off to West Branch. They’re a solid program.”

The mistakes were most costly in the first set, a set which saw Central Mountain commit five service errors while struggling to get much going early. The Warriors got out to leads of 8-3 and 13-6 behind two 5-0 runs, with two of those errors occurring within that span.

Even when the Wildcats got some momentum going, cutting the deficit to 15-12 and 16-13 with kills from Beaubrun and Kylie Rauch, they’d serve into the net on the points that followed. Steadily, West Branch was able to build its lead back up to six, holding firm from there to take it 25-19.

“My message to the team after the first set was that it was Central Mountain 1, Central Mountain 0,” said McCann on the first set. “I thought we just really killed ourselves. We missed at least 16 serves that I counted (throughout the match).”

Those mistakes would reveal themselves again in a hard-fought third. A service error and foul at the net would turn a 22-22 tie into a two-point deficit, a deficit which the Warriors capitalized on with a set-sealing ace from Madison Korb.

They’d ultimately overshadow what were two strong sets for the Wildcats in the second and fourth.

In the second, they found themselves trailing 4-1 before gathering their footing, as kills from Beaubrun, Lilly Downing and Rauch helped turn that deficit into a 5-5 tie. Beaubrun would follow that up with a block to give her team a lead, then added a kill and ace soon after.

Ultimately, they’d never trail in the set again, as the Wildcats put together their best stanza of the night.

With a 16-11 lead, they’d finish it strong, outscoring the Warriors 9-4 to close out the set, 25-15, and even the match up at 1-1. In the set, Downing had two aces, Beaubrun, Rauch and Downing combined for six kills and Chloe Confer capped it off with an ace.

“It’s volleyball. The first set we made a lot of errors. The second, we didn’t make quite as many,” said McCann. “When we made a lot of errors, it didn’t turn out well in our favor. But when we didn’t, it did.”

In the fourth, three combined kills from Rauch and Allison Koch helped propel it to an immediate 4-0 lead in a set where it never trailed.

The Wildcats would build that lead up to 11-5 and keep it around six points until late in the set. And whenever West Branch responded, cutting the lead to 22-19 and 23-20 late, a service error from the Warriors and kills from Koch and Downing gave them the edge, as they won the set, 25-21.

On the day, Beaubrun and Rauch each surpassed double-digit kills, posting 14 and 12 respectively, and also finished with four blocks each. Downing had a strong performance across the board, leading the team in blocks (five) and aces (three) while also posting seven kills. And freshman Sofia Kelley finished with six kills and three blocks.

At setter, Chloe Confer led the way with 17 assists, and Sophia Hardy added 15. In her return from injury, Hardy made a large impact late, logging nine of her assists through the fourth and fifth. She also added two aces.

“It was great because I was out and then came back for our biggest competition,” said Hardy when asked what it meant being back. “Being able to have that chance to come back for this game, our last home game, was really impactful and exciting for me.”

“This was her first game back after a few weeks, and I thought she played pretty well for it being her first time back,” said McCann on Hardy.

All in all, it wasn’t the way Central Mountain (13-1) wanted to end its regular season, but it’ll have a chance to learn from the loss and bounce back when the District 6 Class AAA tournament begins next Wednesday.

“I think we need to learn how to build our confidence because I feel like we don’t know that we’re a good team, but we really are,” said Beaubrun. “Once you build that confidence and that connection, we will truly be able to reach our highest potential.”

“It’ll prepare us really well going into districts and hopefully states because this is our first actual defeat in a match,” said Hardy. “We all got to show our true potential, so I think this will be a good head start going into districts.”

West Branch 3, Central Mountain 2

WB 25 15 25 21 15

CM 19 25 22 25 11

Central Mountain kills: Gabby Beaubrun 14, Kylie Rauch 12, Lilly Downing 7, Sofia Kelly 6, Allison Koch 3, Alana Ingram 1. Central Mountain assists: Chloe Confer 17, Sophia Hardy 15, Reese Walizer 5, Allison Koch 3, Alana Ingram 2, Lilly Downing 1. Central Mountain aces: Lilly Downing 3, Gabby Beaubrun 2, Sophia Hardy 2, Reese Walizer 1. Central Mountain blocks: Lilly Downing 5, Gabby Beaubrun 4, Kylie Rauch 4, Sofia Hardy 3, Allison Koch 1, Alana Ingram 1.