Keep the championship medals and hardware in town.

That was the goal throughout the day Saturday for Jamie Ridenhour’s Owensville 8th Grade Dutchgirl volleyball team during their annual home tournament at Owensville High School.

Going 7-1 through pool play with sweeps of New Haven, St. James and Washington to go with a split against Sullivan, Owensville advanced to the bracket portion of the tournament.

Sweeping St. Clair in two sets 25-12 and 25-21, OMS’ Dutchgirls then advanced to the championship match and a rematch with Sullivan’s Lady Eagles.

Dropping game one 25-21, the Dutchgirls fought back to take game two 27-25 to force a decisive third set to decide the tournament champion.

Taking a 10-8 lead on three Riley Grube service points, Owensville then saw Sullivan outscore them 7-3 the rest of the set to take game three and the match 25-21, 25-27 and 15-13.

Leading 5-3 early in game one on a pair of Cambell Schulte aces, Two Kaydence Gibson aces later in game one tied it at 12-12 before Sullivan took a 16-13 lead.

Three Ava Schulte service points then gave OMS a 17-16 lead before Sullivan scored nine of the next 13 points giving them game one.

Leading 13-9 midway through game two on four straight Macie Ruth service points, Owensville was halfway to forcing a deciding third set.

Going back and forth for several points, Grube and Gibson helped the orange and black to a 22-18 lead late in game two.

Seeing that lead disappear, Owensville was finally able to win game two on a Cambell Schulte ace.

Taking an early 3-0 lead in game three behind two Ava Schulte aces, Sullivan scored eight of the next 10 points before Grube served three points in a row helping the Dutchgirls reclaim a 10-8 lead.

Unable to overcome several errors down the stretch, Owensville lost the match in three sets settling for second-place hardware and medals.

Grube led the Dutchgirls with five kills followed by four kills from Brinley Schmanke against Sullivan.

During their bracket semifinal win over St. Clair, Cambell Schulte served six aces while Schmanke recorded three kills.

Game two against the Lady Bulldogs saw Grube record five kills.

In their pool sweep of New Haven (25-12, 25-21), Cambell and Ava Schulte combined for seven aces.

Amelya Curtman showed the way for the Dutchgirls in game two against New Haven with seven service points.

Sweeping Washington 25-16 and 25-15 in pool play, Grube recorded four kills while Ruth served three points in game one.

Cambell Schulte and Ruth each served two aces in game two against the Lady Blue Jays.

Highlighting their sweep of St. James in pool play 25-13 and 25-12, Ava Schulte served the first eight points of game one while Tristyn Weirich also added three service points.

Game two against the Lady Tigers saw Shae Abernathy serve five aces in a row before Weirich aced the final two points of the match.

Violet LaValle and Grube each had a kill for the Dutchgirls in game two against St. James.

Owensville will return to action Friday afternoon hosting St. James’ Lady Tigers in their annual daytime volleyball match in front of the OMS student body at Owensville High School with first serve of the seventh-grade match set for 12:30 p.m.