—Photos courtesy of Iowa Central Iowa Central players celebrate during their match against Western Iowa Tech on Wednesday inside Hodges Fieldhouse.

It’s not very often that you see Sara Horn forced to let out a sigh of relief following a match involving her Iowa Central volleyball team inside Hodges Fieldhouse.

But that exactly how Horn felt after the seventh-ranked Tritons advanced in Region XI Tournament play with a four-set win over Western Iowa Tech.

Scores were 25-14, 15-25, 25-21 and 25-21.

Iowa Central (29-6 overall) now gets Northeast in the semifinals in Cedar Rapids on Saturday at 3 p.m. The winner of that faces off with either No. 3 Kirkwood or 24th-ranked Des Moines Area for the title on Sunday at 1 p.m.

“That’s the loudest crowd we’ve had all year,” Horn said. “It was great that WIT brought over all those kids because it really fired up our crowd and the girls were able to feed off that energy. It was like that when we went to Kirkwood earlier this year but the entire gym was against us, so it was great to have support like we had (Wednesday night).”

Talya Sampson had a team-high 13 kills while former Manson Northwest Webster standouts Emily Goodner and Olivia Sturgis combined for 23. Olivia Benson recorded 24 digs, Goodner had 13 and Dani Anela Kapu dished out 21 assists.

Down 18-15 in the fourth set, Horn called a timeout and gave simple instruction to her team. Iowa Central listened, reeling off four consecutive points to gain a lead they would never surrender.

“We just weren’t executing with our handling of the ball,” Horn said. “There were a couple times where it seemed like we almost weren’t ready. We just told them to play until the whistle and always be ready to go.

“I thought we did a better job of that and I was proud of the way they were able to close it out.”

Araya Garrison added five kills, Anabel Seaman had 19 assists, Natalie Hagadon recorded four aces and Benson had three aces. As a team, Iowa Central had 24 block assists, with Strugis recording six.

The Tritons improved to 14-1 at home this year, as the lone loss came to top-ranked Cowley County, who is unbeaten on the season. They have won five straight overall and nine off 11.

“We’ve had some really high highs this year,” Horn said. “But we’ve struggled with staying consistent. I finally started to see some of that consistency there in the fourth.

“But this was great for our girls. We had to battle and fight against a very energetic crowd, which is what we are going to see this weekend.”