Special to the Journal/Dan Hiner Crestview’s volleyball team celebrates a point against Canfield on Wednesday.

CANFIELD — Wednesday’s match didn’t start well for the Crestview volleyball team. But it still ended in a victory.

The Rebels fell behind after the first set, but battled back to beat Canfield 3-1 in a battle of unbeaten squads. The Rebels won 23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-14 at Canfield High School.

“They got really fired up after the first set,” Crestview head coach Alisha Auer said. “We had a good lead, and there were some questionable calls that just fired us up. I thought we were able to take that and get a positive reaction instead of shutting down and getting frustrated.

“I’m excited. I told the girls to play angry, and they did. They played really, really well.”

Crestview (8-0) jumped out to a multi-point lead, playing ahead by as many as five points. But the Cardinals fought their way back into the opening frame and eventually cut the deficit to 13-12.

A Rebel net violation tied the first set at 14, and a block by Paige Roberts gave the Cardinals (7-1) their first lead at 16-15. And while the set was tied again at 23, the Cardinals pulled it out 25-23 when Crestview sent a ball out of bounds.

Canfield took a 2-0 lead to start the second set, but the Rebels fought back. A Crestview ace by Lainy Auer pushed the Rebel lead to 17-12, forcing Canfield to call a timeout.

The Cardinal cut the Rebels’ lead to 18-16, but Crestview took control and won the second set 25-19 to tie the match at 1.

Crestview carried that momentum into the third set.

The Rebels took a 10-4 lead early in the period, but Canfield tied that set at 22 with six straight points. However, Crestview took a 2-1 lead by winning the third 25-22 following a set-clinching kill by Sophia Noling.

“We have a lot of young kids on the court. I only have three kids that consistently played varsity last year on my court,” Alisha Auer said. “So I have young kids that are learning to play varsity, learning those clutch situations. Noling stepped up and had two huge points at the end of Set 3. She’s a sophomore, didn’t play any varsity last year.”

After the Cardinals started the fourth set 4-1, the Rebels tied it at 6 with an ace from Laney Boano. The set remained close until Crestview took a 13-12 lead. The Rebels earned 11 of the next 12 points to increase their lead to 24-13.

A Canfield serve error resulted in the final point for Crestview, giving the Rebels a 25-14 win in the fourth set and a 3-1 victory in the match.

“When we have energy and we play together, a lot of really good things happen. We definitely got down on ourselves tonight and couldn’t get over that hump,” Canfield head coach Krista Nesbitt said. “We let one mistake turn to two, to three, to four, which made it really difficult to come back, especially with the players that Crestview has.”

Lainy Auer was all over the court, like she usually does for the Rebels, finishing with 30 kills, 12 digs, four aces and three blocks. Sophia Stewart added 30 assists, 15 digs and an ace, and Kerrigan Miller had a game-high 18 digs to go along with six aces.

Ashtyn Hanousek led the Cardinals with 21 kills. Viv Biro had 38 assists and nine points, Paige Robert recorded seven blocks and Carly Fleming finished with 14 digs.

Alisha Auer knew it was going to be a challenging match on Wednesday.

The two teams met during the preseason scrimmages, with the Rebels and the Cardinals trading wins. She said “it’s fun to have an opponent like that.”

But it’s also fun to walk away from a difficult opponent with a perfect season still intact.

“We have a very successful program, so I don’t want them to feel like it’s normal to be 8-0, because it’s not,” Alisha Auer said. “It’s a special thing. They gotta work hard, and the target is huge on our back, but don’t take it for granted how good this team is playing right now. Enjoy it, have fun with it and strive to be better.”