For a second consecutive season, the Hartley High School girls volleyball team's season ended in a Division II state semifinal.

The Hawks lost to Parma Padua Franciscan 25-20, 25-19, 25-14 in a semifinal match last Friday at Wright State.

Padua Franciscan went on to win the state title, its second in as many years, defeating Mentor Lake Catholic 16-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-9, 15-9 last Saturday.

The loss to Padua Franciscan, which defeated Hartley 25-17, 25-22, 25-18 on Sept. 26, started well for the Hawks. An early 8-3 lead in the first game quickly turned sour for the Hawks as the Bruins went on a 7-1 run for a 10-9 lead. Padua Franciscan held on from there.

The second game is what determined the match. Padua Franciscan earned two consecutive points on a rotation error and a wrong server error by the Hawks, and Hartley coach Max Miller was not pleased. Miller disagreed with the calls, made his opinion known to the referee, who responded with a yellow card.

"I think I took us out of the second game by getting that yellow card," Miller said. "I felt like the official put us in the wrong lineup to begin with."

Padua Franciscan won the second game 25-19, and with momentum on its side, cruised in the third game. At one point, Hartley trailed 19-4 in the third game before a late rally.

"The girls played tough. The goal was to get back (to the state championship match) and we got back," Padua Franciscan coach Anthony Messina said. "We played and scrimmaged Hartley before, and I think they were exposing some of our weaknesses in game one and two. Game three, this team just turned it on and turned it up to the next level."

Kaitlyn Leary, an Ohio State recruit, led Padua Franciscan with 15 kills and Christie Fritsche had 14 kills.

The Hawks were led by Shelby Sagle, who had nine kills and eight digs. Olivia Johnson had 13 assists and Jillian Brown had 11 digs. Madison Brake had two kills, two assists and six digs.

Hartley finished 21-7 overall and captured the CCL championship by finishing 9-1, ahead of Ready (8-2), Watterson (7-3), DeSales (4-6), Worthington Christian (2-8) and Columbus School for Girls (0-10).

It marked the first time in three years Hartley had won a league title. In addition to winning the league title, Hartley won its fifth consecutive district title and third consecutive regional title.

The Hawks will lose seniors Chelsea Blackstone (defensive specialist), Brown (defensive specialist), CharAnna Dixon (middle hitter), Allison Holehouse (right side), Johnson (right side), Maggie Mecklenborg (right side), Mackenzie Meyer (defensive specialist), Sagle (outside hitter) and Jenn Winkle (defensive specialist).

Players expected to return include junior Hughes (outside hitter), sophomores Natalie Briggs (setter) and Lauren Hurley (defensive specialist) and freshmen Brooke Betts (middle hitter), Brake (outside hitter) and Reese Walaszek (outside hitter/middle hitter).

Though the Hawks are losing a large senior class that includes starters Brown, Dixon and Sagle, Hartley appears to have the pieces for a fourth consecutive run to the state tournament. Hughes was one of the team's leading attackers, Hurley will slide in at libero and the Hawks received great play this season from Betts, Brake and Walaszek, all of whom should be major contributors next season.