In what was not supposed to happen according to all the pre-season pundits, Allen Central is in the Regional Championship. In all pre-season polls, The Rebels were never rated higher than seventh in the Region, behind #1 Rated Betsy Layne, Belfry, Pikeville, South Floyd, Prestonsburg, and Johnson Central and were considered 4th in the District behind number one rated Betsy Layne, South Floyd, and Prestonsburg. They will take on Betsy Layne at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the 54th District championship re-match – this time at Paintsville. This is the first time since volleyball had a 15th Region (it used to be the 8th Region for 1999 – 2001) that Belfry will not go to the state tournament.

The Allen Central squad took on a determined 55th District Champion East Ridge Warrior team in the semi-final match up and the Rebels swept them in two, 25 – 19 and 25 – 22. Allen Central moves to 29 – 9 on the season.

Kelsey Jones had another solid effort with 5 kills on .333 hitting to go with 4 solo blocks, 1 block assist, and 2 deflections. Tiffany Burdzilauskas also stepped up to play knocking in 5 kills and getting 1 solo block and 1 block assist. Ciara Jones thumped in 3 kills, and Courtney Hodge, Katie Dingus, Leigh Williams, Mandy Howard, Rebekah Potter, and Kelsey Blevins added a kill each. Setter Leigh Williams was solid with 10 assists while running the offense 38 times and committing only 1 error. Jaimie Mullins added 6 assists in 21 attempts. Hodge paced the Rebels in serving, landing 5 aces in 20 attempts without an error. Williams and Potter scored two aces each and Dingus and Mullins chipped in one ace each.

Defensively, Courtney Hodge received 46 balls committing four errors, returning 32 and earning 10 digs. Rebekah Potter received 24 attempts committing 3 errors while returning 14 and getting 7 digs. Julie Halbert received 9 volleys returning 6 and getting 3 digs without error. Kelsey Jones added 2 digs and Mandy Howard was credited with 1. Jones showed why she is rated second in the state in blocking by stopping 71% of the balls she touched at the net. Dingus stopped 3 and deflected 5, Burdzilauskas turned back 1 and had a block assist, and teammate Mandy Howard has 2 block assists.