Centerville's first volleyball victory over Leon this year ended a district winning streak for the Lady Cougars that dated back to 1973. Centerville then beat Leon again to sweep the District 15-2A series.

But the third victory was bigger.

Centerville qualified for the state volleyball tournament by beating Leon 25-19, 25-19, 25-20 in the 2A Region II championship Saturday at the Garland Special Events Center.

"We went into district needing to beat [Leon] to just get rid of the voodoo," Centerville coach Jason Evans said. "But if they had beaten us both times and we had won today, people would have still remembered that we were going to state, not those [regular-season] games."

Iola is also going to state after winning its rematch with 22-A rival Normangee 25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 25-11 at the University of Texas-Tyler. Iola won both district games over Normangee.

Shelby Bishop had 24 points on her seve and was the leading hitter with 20 kills and 13 blocks. Mercedes Alafa had 10 hits and 14 kills. Sabina Bookman had nine blocks and Ashley Brown had eight.

For Centerville, the trip to state will be the school's first in any sport. The Lady Tigers will play at either 1 or 3 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals at Texas State University's Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos. Poth, Harmony and Bushland fill out the 2A field.

The 2A state title match is set for 11 a.m. Saturday.

Poth, the three-time defending 2A state championships, earned a return trip to state Saturday with a victory over Schulenburg. Harmony earned its spot by beating 23-2A champion Lexington 18-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-10, 15-9 in the Region III final at Texas-Tyler.

Iola's Class A semifinal will be at 9 or 11 a.m. Friday at Strahan Coliseum, with the Class A championship match at 9 a.m. Saturday.

UIL pairings for the state tournament will be released Sunday.

In 4A action Saturday, Friendswood beat Brenham 25-15, 25-23, 25-12 at the Campbell Center in Aldine for the Region III title.