Seton Catholic's boys volleyball team managed a pair of tight wins over Ironwood during the regular season so the question Saturday afternoon -- Could the Sentinels prevail a third time in the Division II title match?

Yes, but ias it turned out they did so in a more decisive manner. With senior hitters Andrew Betlach and John Engelbert leading the charge, top-seed Seton dominated from start to finish in a sweep of No. 3 Ironwood. Scores were 25-17, 25-17 and 25-19. at Mesquite High School.

Betlach clutched the championship trophy during an on-court photo shortly after the match and then let his emotions go . He prodded the Sentinels student section to join the party and asked for trophy protection. --  "Someone might want to take this," he said. "The celebration began.

The title was the first in school history in the sport for Seton (41-4) as D-II competition was resumed this year after consolidating it to one title the past few years. Betlach finished with 18 kills and Engelbert added 14 as the consistently sharp Sentinels were too much for Ironwood and its too often run of errors. Ironwood, coached by Marcy Robb, was gunning for its first state title. The Eagles finished the season 28-8.

"We had the entire season to work with after playing them the first match," Engelbert said. "We got quick points at the start and that got us going. We had the confidence from beating them the first time that we could do it again. With the way we started we were sure we would win."

One of Seton's primary goals was to reduce the effect Ironwood standout hitter David Kisiel would have on the match. It worked well.

"We worked on fundamentals and some other drills in practice (Friday)," Seton coach Nick Price said. "We ran a couple things that we thought would help us block him and they were successful several times. That helped."

Seton opened up a 7-2 lead and later 11-6 in the first set, the latter forcing Ironwood to call its first timeout. Kisiel, who collected 48 kills in Ironwood's 5-set win over Cienega n Thursday's semifinals, was limited to three kills in the opening set. The second set was more of the same a little more than halfway through it. With Seton up only 15-14, it was Engelbert who pumped up the lead with three successive kills, including a tight-rope walk at the net that he returned off balance for a the middle of the three points. Betlach had four of his seven kills in the second set among the Sentinels final six points.

Seton never trailed in the third set, but Ironwood tied the match at 13 and had its first real momentum of the match. Kisiel was key to the revival as he unleashed eight kills in the set and finished with 14. Seton, however, gradually pulled away late, helped by three more kills down the stretch from Betlach. Middle Sam Higinbotham finished the match with a kill exactly one hour after the match began.

The title was a great sendoff for 10 seniors for the Sentinels -- Betlach, Engelbert, Anthony Cook, Jacob Beard, Michael Garlid, Noah Williams, Matthew Pabst, Weston Boardman, Braden Mitten and Tommy Randolph.