It's the second section championship for Sage Hill (25-5), which swept St. Margaret's in the Division IV-A final in 2005.
Sage's latest victory denied St. Margaret's (20-10) the chance to repeat as IV-AA champion. The Tartans earned their fifth section crown last season and were handed their fourth defeat in their nine section title-match appearances.
"[The Tartans] won last year, they've got a long history and a great winning tradition," Sage Hill Coach Dan Thomassen said. "I thought going in that our best was better than theirs, but it's really close. It think if we play them 10 times, it's probably five [wins for] each side. We just had the better night and our girls were hungry."
Sage Hill was markedly better in the blocking department, where it scored 12 points to the Tartans' one.
Zoe Kreitenberg, Sage's 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker, had seven block assists and one solo stuff. She also had 15 kills, matching senior outside hitter Natasha Sakraney for team-high honors.
Freshman outside hitter Halland McKenna had 14 kills, three block assists and was one of five Lightning with one ace.
Junior Maggie Danner had 10 kills, four block assists and one stuff block to go with an ace, and freshman setter Maddy Abbott had 31 assists, three block assists and one ace.
Senior Alayna Lewis chipped in 13 assists, four kills, four block assists and one ace and Thomassen also credited freshman Kekai Whitford for contributing off the bench, despite battling the lingering effects of a torn abdominal muscle.
"[The Tartans] got a lot of touches, but we were blocking with authority, which is something we've been working on a lot the last month or two," Thomassen said.
Early leads were vital to winning each game, though Sage erased a 20-14 deficit to extend Game 1.
