Crestview’s Abbey Emch strikes the ball against LaGrange Keystone on Tuesday in a Div. V district semifinal at Crestview High School. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Maris/Magic Moments Photography)

COLUMBIANA — Crestview senior Abbey Emch left her home floor a winner for the last time on Tuesday as the Rebels downed LaGrange Keystone 25-5,25-10, 25-9 on Tuesday in a Div. V district semifinal.

Emch, Crestview’s greatest middle hitter who owns all of the Rebel attacking career and single season marks, went 52-0 for her career on the Rebel home floor.

“It’s kind of insane and hard to believe,” Emch said. “I can’t be more thankful for my teammates.”

Rebel coach Alisha Auer made sure to tell her team to enjoy the moment because things like this rarely happen.

“It’s crazy and absurd,” Auer said. “Like I told them yesterday, it’s not normal. Not many teams win these many games. I told them to enjoy this. It’s something very special.”

The Rebels, the top seed, improved to 24-0. Emch, who is the only senior who has played on the varsity all four years, has only lost five times in 106 varsity matches. Three of those matches were in the regional tournament and the two regular season losses were back-to-back road defeats to Girard and Austintown Fitch during her sophomore year.

“It has been a blast playing with my friends on this floor,” Emch said. “It’s kind of sad because I have a lot of fun memories here.”

The Rebels will meet No. 16 South Range in the district final at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Streetsboro High School. The Raiders (14-10) finished off No. 23 seed Canton Central Catholic 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 25-10 in the other semifinal on Tuesday at Crestview. The Rebels and Raiders have not played each other since a tournament match in 2019.

“I’m excited to play against South Range,” Emch said. “Some of the girls are from my club — Infinity — and we have played against each other a lot.”

The No. 27-seeded Keystone (6-18) had a lot of trouble just getting the ball over the net and were outclassed instantly by the very experienced Rebel team. For the winners, junior Lainy Auer was all business as she put away 15 kills and three aces. Emch, a University of Pittsburgh recruit, had 11 kills and eight digs. Lydia Campbell had two kills and a block. Sophia Stewart had 26 assists, five aces and 14 points. Senior Natalie Blakeman had four aces, five digs and 16 points.

“I think it’s amazing coming from a small school out in the country and to just come here and play our game and not lose, it’s incredible,” Blakeman said.

At the start of the season there was some question as to how Crestview would adapt to inserting new players into the rotation after years of a consistent lineup. All of those questions have been answered and then some.

“I may have started off with a little doubt at the start of the season just because we lost some really great girls from last year,” Blakeman said. “We had some new underclassmen starting for us but I think coming from there to now, I think we’ve come a long way.”

Match notes

¯ The new seven division format for volleyball is tough to get used to. The Rebels played only one sectional and one district semifinal, so far.

“I’m not a fan,” Auer said. “I think it’s silly when you look at the bigger brackets and there’s only three teams playing for one district championship. It doesn’t change things too much for us. We play a lot of the same teams we’ve seen in the past, but I do think it’s watering it down.”

¯ Last year’s Div. III state champion Mentor Lake Catholic, the second seed, will take on No. 15 Tuslaw or No. 17 West Salem Northwestern in the district final that will follow at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Streetsboro. Crestview, who lost to Lake Catholic last season in the regional final at Barberton, will stick around if it wins to watch a bit of Lake Catholic’s match. Lake Catholic and Crestview would meet up in the regional semifinals on Halloween at Burton Berkshire.

¯ Auer said she has scouted Lake Catholic this season.

“They have been on our radar for three years,” Auer said.

¯ Auer said there was not any attempt made to schedule a regular season matchup with Mentor Lake Catholic or some of their opponents.

“The thing with our schedule is we travel so much for league,” Auer said. “Going on another hour or two hour long trip, it’s just a lot. We play three matches a week and even if we win in three sets, it’s still getting home at 10 at night. They’re tired by the end of the week and so am I.”

¯ Leading South Range was Anna Toy with 23 kills, 18 digs and an ace. Hayden Carey had 22 assists and 15 digs. Addison Freedy had nine kills, 24 digs and four aces. Ali Iorns added 14 digs and two aces.