CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- Hannibal volleyball is headed to the state tournament for the first time in program history.

The Lady Pirates were able to once again raise the jolly roger as they defeated Parkway Central 3-2 in Saturday afternoon's Class 4 quarterfinal.

"I didn't realize it to last week that they've never been to state before," said Hannibal head coach Jason Leindecker. "It's definitely exciting. Now we can celebrate it a little bit."

Hannibal won the first set 25-20, but Parkway Central edged out the Lady Pirates 25-23 and 25-21 in the second and third sets to take a 2-1 lead.

The Lady Pirates needed to regroup between sets as their season was on the line.

"We talked about the five more minutes theory, where we want five more minutes and we're not ready to be done," said Leinde

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