WARSAW – The Elkhart Central volleyball team started sectional play with a shocker Tuesday night.

The Blue Blazers upended No. 5 ranked Penn 3-1 in the opener of the Class 4-A Warsaw Sectional.

Central topped the Kingsmen 25-22, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23 in the first match of the seven-team sectional in the Tiger Den.

Central, which improves to 24-4, advances to play Northridge on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the semifinals.

Penn had defeated Central 25-22, 26-24, 25-21 in a regular-season matchup at Central back on Sept. 1. The Kingsmen, who were sectional runner-up last year, finish the season at 31-3.

Senior Tylar Roberson was the star of the night for the Blue Blazers. The 5-10 outside hitter powered down a match-high 21 kills to lead the way for coach Yolanda Stahl’s team. Roberson also had three blocks.

Junior setter Allison VanDerVellen had 38 assists to go with 17 digs and an ace for Central. Senior Kelsey Cobb had 10 kills and junior Elli Gaskill 20 digs. Senior Emily Decker had six blocks and an ace and junior Gabby Carr and senior Hannah Lowe each had one ace.

Senior Jennifer Heritz paced Penn with 12 kills. Sophomore Maria Schwindaman and senior Madelyn Wiseman each had 10 kills and junior Italia Fields nine. Junior Julia Beers and Schwindaman each had one ace for the Kingsmen. Heritz had four blocks and Wiseman three.

The sectional resumes on Thursday with Goshen facing Concord at 6 p.m., followed by defending sectional champion Elkhart Memorial versus the host Tigers. The Thursday night winners will play in the second semifinal match on Saturday at approximately 12:30 p.m.

The sectional championship match is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m. The sectional winner will then host the winner of the Plymouth Sectional in a one-match regional on Oct. 25.