Unseeded for the Division I district tournament, Gahanna returned to a district final last Saturday at Licking Heights for the first time in three seasons. The Lions lost to seventh-seeded Thomas Worthington 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21.

They finished 13-13 overall and 6-6 in the OCC-Ohio Division. In making a district final, they took a measure of respect from a season that could have gone downhill quickly.

"I think during the season, we had our ups and downs," Lauren Arnett said. "Everyone was saying we were rebuilding. We really shut some people up when we made it to a district final. No one thought we were going to make it this far."

At one point, Gahanna was 3-6 and fought to get to .500. The defense looked solid, but the offense was struggling.

The sixth loss came to Beavercreek 25-11, 25-19 on Sept. 19. That was two days after losing an OCC-Ohio match to Reynoldsburg 25-19, 17-25, 22-25, 28-26, 15-6, a team that also was struggling.

In the final week of the regular season, the Lions started showing signs of life. They defeated Reynoldsburg 25-18, 25-18, 27-25 on Oct. 13 and Groveport 25-9, 25-14, 25-16 two days later in the regular-season finale.

The final week of the regular season helped the Lions finish fourth in the OCC-Ohio, behind Pickerington North (12-0), Newark (10-2) and Lancaster (8-4), and ahead of Reynoldsburg (4-8), Groveport (2-10) and Pickerington Central (1-11).

The Lions, who had a first-round bye, had nine days to prepare for its postseason opener.

They defeated 11th-seeded New Albany 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 in the second round of the tournament. Four days later in a district semifinal, Gahanna beat fourth-seeded Westerville Central 25-23, 25-19, 25-27, 20-25, 15-12.

"During tournament time, we really stepped it up," Arnett said. "We weren't going to end on a bad note. We were going to show what we've been working on all this season. Next year they're going to do well because they've learned a lot."

The Lions could return as many as 10 juniors. Expected back are juniors Mackenzie Carder, Megan Chokreff, Heather Deuber, Abby Easton, Taylor Holly, Tara Liston, Paige McCoy, Anne Scowden, Annie Volhardt and Johanna Waunderlich.

Coach Scot Holmes is expecting Easton, Holly, Carder, Chokreff, Volhardt and Liston to be among those taking on the leadership roles. Easton is expected to return at setter in an offense geared toward Holly and Carder. Liston had her playing time as a defensive specialist increase significantly as the season moved along.

Also expected back are sophomores Ashley Koons and freshmen Stacey Baumann and Becca Scowden.

"Next year should be a year of strength," Holmes said. "We had a lot of girls getting a lot of game time this year. We can build into next year. All season we lacked in getting our offense and defense together and all of a sudden they both started working together."