Casey's victory ignited an impromptu festival that moved from the floor at Lincoln County back to their own gym, where coach Alan Patterson had to make good on a promise to shave the mustache he has worn for virtually all of his adult life, and on to Snow's home, where all 12 players planned to spend the night.
"We're just going to celebrate," Snow said.
A few minutes into the match, it looked as if Casey (19-8-2) would be doing anything but celebrating. Boyle (17-17-1) raced to a 17-5 lead in the first game that lit a fire under its players and seemed to leave Casey reeling.
But if recent history has taught these two teams anything, it's that their matches will have more than a few momentum swings. This was the fourth meeting between Casey and Boyle, and three of the best-of-three matches went the distance.
"What is it always when Casey plays Boyle? Almost every time, it's a war," Patterson said. "We're two evenly matched teams, and it's a war."
So the Casey girls dug in for a long fight, winning two games that went down to the wire to improve to 3-1 against Boyle.
"We knew we were better than that," Weddle said. "We realized that we had to play, because they weren't just going to give it to us."
Boyle coach Dana Stigall said that might have been exactly what happened.
"I'm still trying to figure out how you beat a team 25-8 and lose the next game," Stigall said. "We did the same thing we did the last time: We came out on fire and then didn't think we needed to play as hard, and we needed to."
"Boyle did have the momentum and the will to do it"
Meredith Coffey, another of Casey's core of four seniors, said Boyle had exactly what Casey wanted in the first game - and she wasn't just talking about the lead.
"Boyle did have the momentum and the will to do it," Coffey said. "I guess we had more of it in the second and third games.
"We talked a lot more, and we kept on encouraging each other."
Stigall said the thing Casey improved on was the very thing Boyle did worse as the match wore on.
"We weren't communicating as a team," she said.
In the second game, Casey claimed a 7-3 lead that gradually grew to 14-6, then 17-7, then 20-8, forcing Boyle to use both of its timeouts along the way.
But Boyle came roaring back, riding the serves of Stephanie Slone for 10 straight points to pull within 21-18.
"She didn't get a lot of aces, but she had a great serving run," Stigall said.
Casey didn't let Boyle get closer than two points, however, and Snow slammed the door with a spike for the 25th point.
Third game much closer
The third game was much closer, although Casey led most of the way. Its largest lead was 18-12, but Boyle rallied to tie the game at 22-all on an ace by Rori Middleton. Boyle tied the match once more before Casey closed out the match with kills by Snow and Ellen Hogue.
Rachel Staub led Boyle with 14 kills, and Miranda Stamper added six. Amanda Allen had four service aces.
Both Boyle and Casey will play in next week's 12th Region Tournament, but Casey got the greater prize: a higher seed for the tournament that will be on its home floor.
"It's nice to be going home, and it's great to know that even if we do get put out at the region, our last match will be on our home floor," Coffey said.
But the Casey girls are planning on extending the party as long as possible.
"We're really looking forward to being on our home court and being able to have our crowd," Snow said. "We just want to come together as a team for the region."
All-Tournament Team
The all-tournament team, as selected by the coaches:
Holly Carter, Boyle; Leah Cook, Lincoln County; Ellen Hogue, Casey; McKinzee Weddle, Casey; Bethany Snow, Casey; Rachel Staub, Boyle.
