Clinton has been an established volleyball program for nearly a decade. So on Tuesday, the last thing the Lady Arrows expected was to be taken to five sets by upstart Warren Central.

But that’s what happened. Clinton had to get some key kills from seniors Callen DeYoung and Coashia Kyles to turn back the Lady Vikes’ upset bid with a 3-2 (25-27, 25-6 17-25, 25-11, 15-12) match win at WC.

The loss diminished Warren Central’s hope of earning one of three playoff berths from Region 2, Class III.

But the strong performance served notice that the Lady Vikes (11-13, 5-6) are a force. Warren Central coach Greg Head is a believer.

“We brought it to them today,” Head said. “They (Clinton) won because of experience, but my team played their hearts out and it was our heart that kept us in there. We’ve still got Clinton one more time and we also have (region) matches with Murrah and Forest Hill. The loss to Murrah is hurting our chances to make the top three, but today shows how far we’ve come.”

Clinton coach Jana Carter said her team thought they would have an easy match.

“We knew they were scrappy, but we were not mentally prepared for this tough a match,” Carter said. “For a second-year program, they played great. The (Shae) Bracey girl is very good and Greg told me she’s just a freshman. She can really play.”

Clinton had problems in four of the five sets in dealing with Bracey. Last winter, she made a big impact on the Warren Central girls basketball team when she was called up from junior high.

Bracey had five kills or blocks in each of Warren Central’s set wins.

She finished with a team best 12 points for the match.

“She still doesn’t have all the skills down, but what she’s picked up in a year has been amazing,” Head said.

Two aces by Sharenna Smith helped WC take the first set 27-25. The Lady Vikes pretty much took the second set off, as Clinton made use of several errors to tie the match at a set apiece.

Bracey bounced back with four kills and a block as WC took the third set. Taylor Willis leant a hand with two kills, a block and two aces.

Clinton (21-8, 9-4) tied the match with a 25-11 victory in the fourth set. DeYoung had six kills to dominate the set and send the match to a 15-point, fifth-set tie-breaker.

The Lady Vikes grabbed an early advantage off a kill by Willis and an ace by Brooke Kistler to lead 6-4.

Clinton answered with a 6-2 run to put the Lady Arrows up 10-8.

Two set up kills by Kyles brought Clinton a 13-10 lead. DeYoung got the decisive match point by digging out a return.

She finished with 10 points while Kyles had 13.

For WC, Sherrell Kelly had nine points, Willis added eight and Kistler had seven.

The Lady Vikes return to action at home against Jim Hill Thursday at 6 p.m.