When the eighth-grade volleyball players from South and West junior high schools took to the court against each other, they were on equal footing. Both had already lost by wide margins to Washburn Rural, the third team in last Thursday’s triangular at South Junior High.

They proved just how equal the match-up was when they took it to three games. The South Cougars lost the first, but came from behind and finally grabbed a 27-25 victory in the deciding game.

“I just told them we needed to play our game,” coach Brenda Meyers said. “I told them we could do this if we do what we know how.”

South lost the first game, 25-19, but came on strong in the second, pulling off a 25-15 win. The final game was a 52-point marathon in which neither team ever lead by more than three points.

The game, which featured South blocking a West spike on the very first point, had the constantly growing crowd fired up the entire time. South fans thought their team had won it on two consecutive points. But referees ruled that South had palmed the ball both times.

South stayed tough and four points later, the home crowd erupted as it got its victory.

“It was very exciting,” Meyers said. “We showed our fans what we’re made of.”

The night ended much smoother for the Cougars than it had begun.

South played Washburn Rural first, but the Cougars were without their leader.

Meyers said she sent her student teacher and assistant coach to oversee the coin toss, unaware that was against the rules.

“Because I didn’t attend the coin toss, the referee said I couldn’t coach,” Meyers said. “That threw us off a little bit.”

Meyers spent the match giving instructions to her assistant, who then relayed the messages to the players.

Whether or not that mistake was to blame, South went down quietly in the first game, 25-5. The second game started with a string of tough rallies, but a long serving streak by Washburn suddenly had the score at 14-2. South never recovered, falling 25-6.

Meyers said her team had played Washburn in the first game of the season and lost. So they knew what they were up against.

“They were probably intimidated,” Meyers said. “Seeing the way we played later, though, we could have at least given them a run for their money.”

If the Cougars seemed shaken by the decisive loss, they had plenty of time to think it over. Because it was West’s turn next.

While the Warhawks managed to play Washburn tighter than South had, they met with the same fate and fell 25-12, 25-15.

But then the local teams took the court against one another. The crowd got both louder and larger andthe atmosphere changed. Both teams stood up to show Washburn had not taken the fight out of them.

West clearly had the upper hand in the first game, getting an early lead on strong serving by Paige Rothwell and Rachael Schaffer.

South did not let it get out of hand, though. They stuck it out and lost by only six points, 25-19.

That was when Meyers, who had made sure to attend the coin toss that time, gave a speech to motivate the girls.

South’s Nicole Bostick made a statement when game two got underway.

Her kill gave the Cougars an emphatic first point, and minutes later, they won six straight points on her serve.

Morgan Green followed suit by serving two aces in a four-point streak.

Meyers said Green’s serve, and good spikes were key.

“We did much better getting serves over,” Meyers said. “And our setters were doing a good job of setting up hitters at the net.”

West’s Rothwell kept her team in it with strong serving of her own, but South made a big run behind Taylor Shuck and soon put the game away, 25-15.

Meyers credited the team play for the win.

“They were using fundamentals, actually putting together points,” she said. “They just played a lot better as a team.”

No one player stood out, but not because no one was great.

They were all great.

Krista Diedel and Emily Cormack were among the strong players for West.

Alexis Scheibler and Kasey Waite had several key hits for South, and Kelsey Broadwell knocked over two aces in a row late in the game.

Meyers said Bostick was the best server of the whole night, though.

“She was the most consistent, and I think if you count it all up, she probably got us the most points,” Meyers said.

With the 27-25 thriller in the final game, South came together after losing three straight games to pull off a confidence-boosting victory going into Monday’s city quad.

“We just played good ball,” Meyers said. “I was real proud of them. They did great.”