varsity.roanoke.com

HILLSVILLE -- From the screams emanating from the Salem locker room, it was clear Salem's Region IV semifinal victory over Cave Spring was special.

From the tears streaming down the cheeks of the Knights, it was certain this was a loss that will hurt for a while.

Salem ended Cave Spring's bid for a third straight Group AA title Thursday night at Carroll County High School in a 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 15-13 thriller that propelled the Spartans into Saturday's 7 p.m. regional title match with Hidden Valley. It will be held in the Roanoke area at a school yet to be named.

The Titans, 25-13, 25-17, 25-16 winners over Tunstall in Thursday's late semifinal, clinched the first Group AA tournament berth in their history.

Salem (20-6) will play in a state match next week for the first time since 1998, when the Spartans won their last title.

Following an opening game that saw Cave Spring (17-7) never trail, Salem sprang to life.

With the score deadlocked at 16 in the second game, the Spartans won nine of the next 13 points to even the match.

"What I'm the most proud of is that these kids had the opportunity to fold -- they went through a couple times when Cave Spring gave good pressure -- and I'm real proud of them because they obviously stepped it back up and fought back every time," Salem coach David Turk said. "It's a big breakthrough."

With help from several of Kelsey Bradshaw's team-high 24 kills, Salem controlled the third game, leading by as many as five and never trailing by more than two points.

Cave Spring beat the Spartans in three regular-season meetings.

"I told the girls before, ... 'They're going to be out of control in a good way. They're going to be super aggressive and out of control because they've got nothing to lose,'" Cave Spring coach Tamalyn Tanis said. "We've got to be ready for that. I said, 'If you give them a snowball, they're going make a snowman out of it.' And we gave them some snowballs tonight."

Salem's Millie Leach recorded 15 kills and 11 digs. Sam Lucado and Jordan Hormel contributed 17 digs and 21 digs, respectively. Rachel Turk finished with 54 assists.

The Spartans withstood a late Cave Spring rally that forced a decisive fifth game. With the score tied at 12 in that game, Salem won three of the final four points to earn the victory.

"Our whole season, we worked just to beat Cave Spring and we finally did it," Bradshaw said.

Allyson Paone led the Knights with 20 kills and five blocks. Kelsey Largen added 15 kills.

"We're all really upset, but they played a good game," Largen said.

"It felt like we would get up and then we would lose that [momentum] and then they would get up and then we would get up. It was just like a stair step and we lost the last step, I guess."