TABOR, Iowa - It's no secret that the Sidney (Iowa) Cowgirls and the East Mills Wolverines are the top two volleyball programs in the Corner Conference. And after Thursday night's championship match of the Corner Conference tournament inside the Lied Gymnasium at Fremont-Mills High School ended, that fact was further cemented into reality.

The Cowgirls took down the Wolverines in a five-set thriller that featured everything from close sets, long rallies and major comebacks. 

After winning the opening set 25-22, Sidney (26-5) trailed 2-1 and faced a must-win fourth set and it played with a new aggressiveness. The Cowgirls scored early and often, scoring the first point for the third consecutive game on their way to a 20-10 lead. 

But then Wolverines star Emily Williams went back to serve and began a rally that had Cowgirls fans holding their collective breath. 

Williams and East Mills scored 10 consecutive points to tie the set at 20 in the blink of an eye causing Sidney coach Amy McClintock to use a timeout in an attempt to stop the avalanche. 

The score then moved to 21-21 as Cowgirl senior middle hitter Kaden Payne delivered a much-needed kill. From there Sidney scored the final four points to force a fifth and final set with a 25-21 win.

The fifth set went back-and-forth as each team delivered spectacular serves, digs and kills. Sidney libero Emily Hutt was all over the place laying out in the back row to keep the ball alive on multiple occasions. Freshman Gabi Jacobs, who was forced into action because of an injury to Karlee Graham, had two huge digs during the fifth set as well.

The Cowgirls built a 13-8 lead before the Wolverines rallied once again behind the stellar serving of freshman Loycee Palmer. Palmer hit soft, low serves in the middle of the floor that the Cowgirls struggled to receive. Quickly, the score was 13-12, Sidney. 

But in the end, after another timeout, Sidney managed to rally itself to secure the title with a 15-13 win in set five, winning the match 3-2. 

East Mills won sets two and three in dominating fashion, 25-19 and 25-17. Williams along with Evelyn Stoakes and Jaimee Davis used their height to their advantage providing a number of powerful kills and blocks at the net. 

Stoakes was solid attacking from the middle and Davis seemed to block everything the Cowgirls attackers hit during the second and third set. 

But the trio's effectiveness was limited by Sidney over the final two sets.

Sidney has now between East Mills two out of three tries this season. 

Box Score:

East Mills (24-8): 22, 25, 25, 21, 13 - 2

Sidney (26-5) 25, 19, 17, 25, 15 - 3

Notes

Stanton (19-6) claimed the third-place trophy in the tournament taking down host Fremont-Mills 25-10, 25-20, 24-26, 25-21 in four sets. During the fourth set, Viqueens senior Marleigh Johnson recorded her 1,000-career dig. Stanton took a timeout, and the crowd rose to its feet as Stanton players and coaches ran onto the court to mob Johnson with balloons and posters commemorating her latest feat.