Householder recorded 22 kills as the Panthers defeated Hilliard Davidson 25-17, 25-12, 25-14 to win their first Division I district title last Saturday at Licking Heights.

"They moved me to the outside for blocking purposes but it gave me an opening (for my kills)," Householder said. "Every year we've made it our goal to win the OCC and go one step further in the tournament. Our goal (from the start) has been to get a district title. Now we finally got it. Losing (to Olentangy 25-19, 25-27, 29-27, 25-15 in a district final) last year made this year so much better."

Kyla Perry had 14 kills and Kendall Kellogg added 13. Madison Spence recorded 55 assists.

"All season long, I kept saying we need to get everyone to peak on the same day," Kern said. "We finally got everyone healthy and we played our greatest game of the year."

The Panthers, ranked 11th in the final Division I state poll, improved to 24-3 overall and played Dublin Coffman in a regional semifinal last Wednesday at Hilliard Davidson. The Shamrocks were ranked second in the state poll. They were 26-0 overall after defeating Watterson 25-11, 25-17, 25-18 to win their third consecutive district title last Saturday.

Coffman defeated North 25-16, 25-17 in a non-league regular-season match Sept. 19.

The winner will play either Thomas Worthington or Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame in a regional final 2 p.m. Saturday at Davidson.

Thomas, which was the seventh seed in district, surprised third-seeded Olentangy Liberty 23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-19 on Oct. 28 and defeated Gahanna 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 last Saturday to win its title.

"We have a really good offense and they had a really good defense," said coach Ed Marsman, whose team improved to 20-6 overall and advanced to a regional semifinal for the first time since 2005. "We felt that they didn't have enough offense and, if we could just play more defense, we'd be fine."

Mount Notre Dame improved to 19-5 after surprising West Chester Lakota West 25-23, 25-14, 25-19 in a Lebanon district championship. Lakota West was fourth in the state poll and entered the district final at 20-1.

Outside-hitter Marissa Otto had 15 kills for Mount Notre Dame. Senior middle-blocker Kate Eckels had 13 kills and junior outside-hitter Kathleen Donnellon added 10 kills.

"It's been a very crazy season," Kern said. "We've got a couple of Cinderellas and a couple of the top teams in our region.

"When you set winning a district tournament as one of your top goals, you run the risk of putting all the eggs in one basket. Now, you worry about how to bring your team back together for a regional semifinal. Hopefully we can pull another rabbit out of the hat."