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SPENCER – Auburndale won the first two games than had to hold off a Spencer rally to win a WIAA Division 3 girls volleyball regional semifinal 3-2 on Thursday at Spencer High School.
The Apaches won 25-21, 25-20, 14-25, 22-25, 15-13, to advance to Saturday’s regional final at No. 1 seed Athens. Athens swept Stratford on Thursday.
Auburndale is looking for its first regional title since it went to the state tournament in 2010. Spencer won the regional the past two seasons.
Shannon Yahnke led a balanced Auburndale attack with 14 kills. Kendra Kundinger added nine kills and led the team with 23 assists and 32 digs, Camille Swart also had nine kills and Hannah Castellano had 24 digs for the Apaches.
“It was a hard match to lose,” Spencer coach Buff Heller said. “We just didn’t come to play in the first two games, and they took advantage of our slow start. We battled so hard in game 5 but we dug a hole a little too deep.”
Marsia Johnson had 21 kills and 44 digs, Tynae Phillips added 13 kills, Brooke Kettleborough had 45 assists and Lindsey Vaughan had 55 digs for Spencer.