The Thomas Worthington High School girls volleyball team was rolling heading into the postseason.

The Cardinals, who finished 20-7 overall, won six of their last seven regular-season matches. Seeded seventh, the Cardinals won a Division I district championship for the second time in coach Ed Marsman's six seasons.

Thomas beat Gahanna 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 on Oct. 31 for the title.

"Our last few weeks together we played a lot harder," junior setter Abbey Swihart said. "This was a good group of girls, and we didn't want the season to go the wrong way. I mean, no one really expected us to beat (third-seeded Olentangy Liberty 23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-19 in a district semifinal Oct. 28). In a way, we were joking about not beating Liberty, and we took them on full throttle and we broke them down and we won."

The Patriots ended Thomas' season the last two years. In the district tournament, Thomas also defeated Marysville 25-15, 25-27, 25-18, 25-23 in the first round Oct. 22. Two days later, the Cardinals beat Lancaster 25-22, 25-22, 27-25 in the second round.

The season turned around in a win over Davidson 21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-13 on Sept. 29 They lost to Davidson 25-19, 25-21, 25-16 on Sept. 3, but when the Wildcats won the first two games of the second meeting, they had won their fifth game in a row against Thomas.

Then something clicked.

"When we played Davidson the second time around, they had beaten us the first couple of games," Marsman said following Thomas district final win over Gahanna. "We just turned it up and won the next three games and came back and won that match and we haven't lost since."

Five days later, Thomas' season ended with a loss in a regional semifinal to Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame 25-19, 25-21, 25-16.

The Cardinals did not play their best match, but reaching a regional tournament was an accomplishment in itself.

"It was a great experience," Marsman said. "We beat four teams (in the district tournament) that were all very good teams and any one of them could have beaten us. We had a nice run. We constantly get better. That's why I thought we might get one more step better (against Mount Notre Dame). I didn't see it."

Thomas loses eight seniors to graduation.

Swihart is expected to return at setter, but she could be working with several new hitters with seniors Tayo Abdulrazak, Kyla Anderson and Ify Okafor graduating.

The Cardinals also lose seniors Alyssa Brady, Maggie Eakins, Brianna Morrissey, Casey Smiley and Taylor Wucinich.

Junior Monica Lanno and sophomore Sarah Smiley are expected to return.

Thomas finished tied with Upper Arlington for fourth in the OCC-Central Division at 4-6.

Dublin Coffman won the division at 10-0, followed by Hilliard Davidson (7-3) and Worthington Kilbourne (5-5). Hilliard Darby (0-10) finished last.