Eastern Pike's first trip to the State Volleyball Final Four would have been memorable enough, but a five set loss to Kidron Central Christian might be something that will be hard to swallow for a while.

After dropping the first set 25-21, the Eagles came back to win the next two sets 25-21, 25-18 for a 2-1 set lead. They were also up 21-20 in Set 4, but Central Christian rallied for a 25-23 win to send it to the fifth and deciding set to 15.

That spelled trouble from the outset for Eastern, falling behind by scores of 7-3 and later 10-4. Eastern battled back, trailing 13-10, they tied it at 13-13 and that is where the see-saw went crazy.

Central Christian would take one point leads from that point on, only to see the Eagles tie the score. But, with the score even at 15-15, CC would score the last two points for a 17-15 win and the match victory at 3-2.

Eastern Pike senior Miranda Clark led their offense with 22 kills, followed by freshman Carson Roney with 14 kills, junior Bailey Helton added 12 and senior Chandler Brown added 11 kills and 21 digs.

The Eagles were hurt by unforced errors, committing 42 for the match, while Central Christian had 32 and fired 11 serving aces at Eastern.

Eastern Pike concludes their history-making state tournament run as champs of the SOC, sectional, district and regional champion and a (27-1) record under Coach Janet Day.