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Posted on Wed, Nov 4, 2009 : 10:55 p.m.

Comeback win provides momentum, Pioneer advances to Class A volleyball district finals with win over Pinckney

By Jeff Arnold

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The Pioneer High School volleyball team celebrates after coming back to defeat Pinckney, 3-1, in the Class A district semifinals Wednesday in Ann Arbor at Huron High School. (Mark Bialek | AnnArbor.com)

By now, each of Amy Hoag's pre-game pep talks cover the same ground.

Expect a challenge, don't stray too far from the plan of attack and most importantly - the Pioneer High School volleyball coach stresses - just play.

So when the Pioneers fell into a sizable scoreboard deficit in a critical third game of Wednesday night's Class A district semifinals against Pinckney, Hoag urged her players just to keep pressing forward.

Before long, the Pioneers had used an 11-3 scoring surge to pull ahead. It proved to be a momentum shift Pioneers used to not only take command of the game, but the 4-game match as Pioneer advanced to Friday night's district finals against Brighton. Pioneer kept its season alive against Pinckney by winning 25-17, 21-25, 26-24, 25-21. (Rest of story & photo gallery | Boxscore)