BLOOMINGTON - Maroa-Forsyth High School's philosophy is simple regarding timeouts. They're overrated. "I don't really think they work that well," said senior outside hitter Mallory Leggett.

Coach Jeanne Hill agrees, saying, "I don't think I've called more than maybe two timeouts all season."

Thursday night, as a 12-6 lead in Game 1 slipped to 18-17 and a 5-0 advantage in Game 2 shrank to 15-14, Hill sat patiently on the bench. When you have Leggett, a 6-foot-2 Illinois State recruit, and 6-1 junior Rachel Hockaday, you don't need timeouts - just a little time to work things out.

Hockaday delivered 17 kills and Leggett added 15 as the third-seeded Trojans downed No. 6 seed Central Catholic, 25-21, 25-18 in the championship match of the Central Catholic Class A Regional volleyball tournament.

"They usually can pull themselves out of it," Hill said. "They know what I'm going to say. They know they have to make a big play and turn things around because volleyball is such a big momentum sport."

"We just need to use our intensity to get ourselves going," Leggett said.

Maroa-Forsyth (34-1) did it well enough to advance to Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. Olympia Sectional semifinal against Hartsburg-Emden, the only team to defeat the Trojans this year.

In Game 1, a booming kill by Hockaday pushed the 18-17 lead to 19-17. The margin grew to 21-17 before the Saints (20-16) crept within 21-19. Hockaday again responded with a kill for a three-point edge, and Leggett closed out the game moments later with a kill.

"We're used to those situations," Hockaday said. "It doesn't rattle us too much.

"We have a lot of good passes and that's what helps. Ali (Alyssa Colee) does a good job of setting for us. As long as the passes are good, we can put them down."

Central pulled within 15-14 in Game 2 on a kill by sophomore Shelby Wheeler. However, a tip by Colee and a kill by Hockaday started a 6-1 run that gave Maroa-Forsyth a 21-15 cushion. The Saints could not get closer than five points after that.

"We knew that's what they were going to do (go to Leggett and Hockaday)," Central coach Emily Kabbes said. "They're very good athletes. And the good thing about having outsides that are strong is you can get them the ball at any point.

"It kind of hurt us to fall behind in both games. It takes a lot of energy to come back from that."

Junior Megan Schmidt led the Saints with eight kills. Senior Kelsey Lockett added six and senior Anna Knepler four.

Nicole Henson paced Central in digs (7) and service points (6), including one ace. Kristyn Mysker had a team-high 12 assists and Knepler added two blocks.

"I thought we played well at times and made some great defensive plays," Kabbes said. "There were some fun rallies. But there were times we could have been more disciplined. We were in the net and we missed some serves … just little things that make a big difference in games like that."

Colee's 28 assists fueled the Maroa-Forsyth offense, while junior Lauren Blumhorst had six digs. Hill said they and the rest of the Trojans look up to Leggett, who she called "an excellent leader."

"She's a great all-around player and she tries 110 percent all the time," Hill said. "The other kids try to work as hard as she does."