RAPID CITY – Warner and Northwestern have had many memorable battles through the years, but this one may have topped them all.

The longtime rivals hooked up in a match for the ages during the semifinals of the State B Volleyball Tournament Friday night at The Monument. After five sets of the powers trading blow for blow, Warner finally landed the knockout punch for a 25-16, 18-25, 25-17, 25-27, 15-13 victory.

“Our kids just played with a lot of heart,” said Warner coach Kari Jung. “We made a lot of mistakes, but we made some good plays when we needed to right at the end.”

When asked where the latest contest ranked among the all-time series between the two Lake Region Conference foes, Jung responded, “This is probably one of the better ones, I think. Our passing I felt was incredible. We put our setters in a good position to run some pretty good hits out of serve receive. It was really fun to see our back row step up big tonight.”

The Monarchs had two match points in the fourth set to end it, but Northwestern came up big under pressure to force a fifth set.

“I thought our kids battled really hard tonight. Warner plays great defense. Our hitters were frustrated. I thought they did a good job of keeping at it, keeping at it, keeping at it,” said Northwestern coach Nora Groft. “They could have given up right away in set two and didn’t. I’m just really happy with how we battled tonight.”

The fifth set was tight the whole way, but the Monarchs were able to grab a two-point edge that they maintained through the early stages of the deciding set.

The Wildcats battled back and the score was tied at 9-9, 10-10, 12-12, and 13-13. That’s when Jaycee Jung provided back-to-back kills to finish off the match and send Warner back into the championship match.

“I just gotta trust the setters to give me a good ball and swing,” Jung said.

Jung had a match-high 25 kills, including six in the fifth set.

“When we give her a good ball, she can find the court,” Coach Jung said. “Right at the end, I looked at my setter and I’m like, you’ve got to find her. She’s the one hot right now, you’ve got to find her.”

The sophomore nailed the big shots and paved the way for Warner to advance to its sixth straight finals match.

“We want to make it to the state championship,” Jaycee Jung said, “because everyone else has.”

With the match on the line, neither team backed off and played conservative, instead playing each point like it was their last.

“I swing big no matter what. … I’m always fired up,” said Northwestern’s Lila Johnson, “and so it’s easier for me to make those big plays in those big moments and really rip swings when I have the momentum on my side and the team backing me up.”

It’s that aggressive mindset and all-out effort that makes the Warner-Northwestern matches so meaningful, according to Northwestern Libero Tara Blachford, who recorded her 1,000th career dig in the contest.

“I think both teams had a lot of energy and a lot of fight in them,” Blachford said. “I think that’s what makes this match so good and tough, it’s because it was our hardest one of the season and I think both teams gutted it out.”

In fact, Blachford said Friday’s match had no equal for her.

“That is the toughest match I think I’ve ever played in,” Blachford said.

Warner’s defense always finds a way to impact a match and makes it difficult for opponents to score.

“We have good hitters hit at us in practice,” said Warner’s Kaydee Mackner. “People on the other side of the net really help us out.”

Northwestern had defeated Warner earlier in the season, but the young Monarchs gained a measure of revenge in their biggest match of the season.

“I think we just really got better these last few weeks,” Jaycee Jung said. “We stayed aggressive this time. Didn’t play very scared.”

Another key factor this time around was the play of Mackner, who finished with 11 kills.

“Last time we played them I wasn’t very aggressive and that really didn’t end well,” Mackner said. “I decided tonight I had to stay aggressive.”

She provided the Monarchs with another threat at the net and delivered some key points.

“We didn’t put her into the lineup until late in the season as a steady consistent player,” Coach Jung said, “because we were struggling finding the right player that could maybe block, play defense, have some power, and we found her.”

And in the biggest match of her young career, Mackner produced.

“She knew she made a few freshman mistakes,” Coach Jung said, “but she had some kills that were incredible tonight.”

Warner had three players with double-figure kills on the night, racking up 60 kills in all. Having multiple threats put extra pressure on the Northwestern defense.

“When you have four athletes, or even more, that can swing on any ball all night, you can have four people on fire, and so it’s really hard to know where things are coming from,” said Johnson, who led all players with 32 digs. “It’s just staying dialed in and trusting your training.”

Ashley Haven had 12 kills to lead Northwestern, which received at least nine kills from four different players.

In the end, it was just a couple too many errors that proved to be the difference.

“It’s just whoever manages their unforced errors the most,” Groft said. “Unfortunately we had a few whoopsie-dos there at inopportune times. A couple of unforced errors at difficult times.”

Northwestern, 36-3, takes on Bennett County for third place at 5 this evening.

Warner, 33-6, will face top-seeded Chester Area in the championship for the third season in a row at about 6:45 tonight.

“We are again the underdogs. They’ve been rated one all year,” Coach Jung said. “I’m glad we’re not playing with the pressure. If our kids can relax and play like tonight, I think we’re in the match.”

Serving: Warner 2 aces (Courtney Leidholt 1, Tatum Hanson 1); Northwestern 5 aces (Brenna Halvorson 4, Lila Johnson 1).

Hitting: Warner 60 kills (Jaycee Jung 25, Kaydee Mackner 11, McKenna Leidholt 11); Northwestern 45 kills (Ashley Haven 12, Breelyn Satter 9, Ella Boekelheide 9, Johnson 9).

Setting: Warner 58 assists (Hanson 28, Reagan Wood 26); Northwestern 43 (Boekelheide 35).

Digs: Warner 120 (Keira Steger 26, Jung 22, Wood 17, Hanson 13, Brynn Hill 10, Courtney Leidholt 10); Northwestern 109 (Johnson 32, Haven 23, Tara Blachford 16, Boekelheide 15).

Blocks: Warner 18 assists (Miah Leidholt 6, Jung 4, McKenna Leidholt 4); Northwestern 20 assists (Haven 5, Satter 4, Boekelheide 4, Johnson 3, Kylee Henjum 3).

Records: Warner 33-6; Northwestern 36-3.