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Polk County won the war Tuesday by winning the battle.

An epic, intense, insane, dramatic, doozy of a battle, a back-and-forth first set during which the Wolverines fought off eight set points, survived losing a few of their own, and finally claimed a 37-35 win.

37-35. Not a typo.

But just one set – Polk still needed to win two more.

And that, the Wolverines did, outlasting Highland Tech 37-35, 26-24, 25-16 to win their state 1A quarterfinal matchup, earning the defending state champions a berth in the 1A West Regional final for the second straight year and moving them a step closer to a repeat state final appearance.

Awaiting Polk in Thursday’s regional final will be Cherokee, the top seed in the West bracket that survived its own bit of drama Tuesday, holding off Cornerstone Charter in the fifth set for a 3-2 win. It will be a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal in which Polk took a 3-1 victory, and it’s the matchup that many volleyball fans in Western North Carolina have been awaiting all season.

Game time in Cherokee is to be announced.

Whenever it is, the meeting will have to be quite a clash to match the madness of Tuesday’s first set.

Fueled by a boisterous home crowd, Highland Tech (26-2) outplayed Polk County (20-3) for much of the first set. The Rams scored the first five points, built an 8-2 lead amd kept the margin at 4-6 points for much of the set. Highland blocked well, dug well, passed well, hit well, with the Wolverines uncertain in most of those areas.

Yet Polk kept within striking distance and began to claw back, trailing 21-17. Back-to-back kills from Morgan Yoder got the Wolverines to 21-20, and two Highland hitting errors gave Polk its first lead at 22-21. The Rams, though, steadied and reached set point at 24-23 on a Madison Thompson kill.

This Wolverine team is nothing if not resilient, and for the 12 minutes following Thompson’s hit, they displayed that in the most nail-biting back-and-forth thriller of a run that either team has undoubtedly ever experienced. Polk fought off Highland’s first two set points with Yoder kills. The Wolverines had their first set point at 27-26 and couldn’t capitalize, leading to a run in which the Rams had five straight set points. For each of those, Polk County responded with a kill, two from Sophia Overholt, three from Yoder, the last keeping Polk alive at 32-32.

Mia Bradley’s blast off the left side gave the Wolverines a 33-32 edge and then it was the Rams’ turn to summon their inner Bee Gees and stay alive, denying Polk three straight set points. Finally, at 35-35, Overholt found the back right corner with a cross-court kill, then shoved down a free ball at the net to end the set.

Highland Tech’s team left the court. So, too, did many fans, and the gym grew quiet almost as if the match had ended.

Just the first set.

“It’s not an excuse. We’ve got to prepare ourselves better,” said Polk County head coach Molly Hill. “We prepared with film and scouting and that sort of aspect, but you walked into this gym and it’s little, it’s tight, everyone’s screaming. None of us could hear each other when we’re trying to communicate. So, nerves got ahead of us in that first set.

“I called my timeouts and just kept saying the same thing over and over. I kept repeating it in the third set. We’ve got to stay focused, we’ve got to keep fighting, we’ve got to keep battling. That was the hardest battle they’ve ever had, a game to 37. I was proud of them for fighting, and that’s exhausting. I was sweating. I felt like I was going to throw up and I’m on the sideline. I can’t imagine how they were feeling.”

Emotionally and physically tired, to be certain.

And still just the first set.

The Rams returned to the court and grabbed a quick 3-0 lead in the second stanza, but Polk just as quickly regained the advantage and kept it. At 23-21, Charley Dusenbury won a free ball at the net to give Polk set point, but Highland rallied, winning the next three points to even the match at 24-24. There would be no repeat second-set drama, though – Overholt pushed a kill just over two Highland blockers, and a Rams’ hitting error gave the Wolverines a 2-0 advantage.

Highland led 3-2 in the third set and never again as Polk began flashing the offensive and defensive form it showed most of the season. The Wolverines pushed to an 8-4 lead, grew that to 16-9 and soon closed the match on an Overholt slam down the right side.

“The third set, we wanted to make a statement,” Hill said. “We wanted to come out and make the third set our best set. I felt like we had control the whole game. We talked about that a lot, when you’re in control and your mind is right, you win ball games, and we played really smart in that third set. We were super aggressive at the net, our serve receive finally got it together. When we’re able to run our offense, it’s hard for people to keep up with that.”

Overholt finished with 15 kills and 22 digs. Yoder had 14 kills. Bradley had eight kills and 16 digs. Kylie Lewis had five kills. Hayden Blackwell had 15 digs, with Dusenbury adding 11 digs and 40 assists.

And now, it’s on to Cherokee.

“This environment was intense,” Hill said. “We know Thursday’s environment is going to be intense. Every game is just getting more cutthroat.

“Luckily, though, this group rises to the occasion. They really love that aspect of the game and it’s really exciting to coach.”