ARCANUM – The No. 1 seed Arcanum Lady Trojans continued their postseason run with a dominant 3-0 victory over the No. 10 seed Twin Valley South Lady Panthers in OHSAA Division VI volleyball tournament play, winning 25-12, 25-15, and 25-15.
“Beating a team twice in a season is hard, and South has a lot of good pieces,” said veteran Arcanum coach Jacie Holman. “Sometimes we got them out of system and got free balls, but we just couldn’t put the ball away at times tonight.”
Twin Valley South head coach Mary Johnson praised her team’s effort against a tough opponent. “Our goal was to come out tonight and post more points than the last time we faced them,” she said. “We changed up a couple of things to see if we could give them a little bit more of a game than we gave them the last time.”
The two WOAC rivals had met earlier this season, with Arcanum sweeping in three sets (25-11, 25-11, 25-13) on their way to capturing the WOAC Championship with a perfect 11-0 record. Twin Valley South closed its season at 11-10 overall and 5-6 in conference play.
The Lady Trojans opened with an 8-4 lead before the Panthers fought back within two at 10-8, 11-9, and 12-10. Arcanum responded with a 5-0 scoring run to take command at 16-11 and pushed ahead to 21-11, closing the set 25-12 to go up 1-0.
“I know Arcanum is good; we knew it was us against it,” Johnson said. “I told them just to come out and play our game and fight from the start. They did everything I asked them to do tonight. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Arcanum built a slim 7-6 advantage before slamming the door with a 15-3 run to lead 22-9. The Lady Trojans closed out the set 25-15 to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Twin Valley South grabbed an early 1-0 lead and kept things close at 5-5 and 6-6 before Arcanum surged ahead with five straight points to make it 11-6. From there, the Lady Trojans controlled play, taking the final set 25-15 and completing the sweep.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t think we did as well as we could have,” Holman noted. “I told the girls this was more of a mental game than it was a physical game tonight.”
Twin Valley South’s seniors played their final match: No. 5 Lainey Mercer, No. 7 Alyssa Summers, No. 12 Brylii Day, No. 16 Emilee Zinn, and No. 17 Madison Adams.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Coach Johnson said. “They are an amazing group of girls. None of them plan to continue volleyball, but I’m super excited to see where they go from here.”
Coach Holman praised her senior leaders, who continue their run toward a district title.
“I’ve had these girls since they were freshmen, so they hold a special place in my heart,” she said. “They know my expectations and my goal for this program since I stepped on this court—I want a district title, and I think they want that as well.”
“I think we can go beyond a district title,” she added. “They’re showing that on the court and pushing the underclassmen every single day in practice.”
Arcanum now advances to the District Title Game on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at Butler High School, with the first serve set for 2 p.m.
“We have to come in, settle, and play our game,” Holman said. “If we play our game, I know we’re walking away with a title.”
