MISHAWAKA – A new volleyball sectional alignment.

A new volleyball sectional venue.

The same old, same old for Elkhart Memorial Tuesday night.

The No. 10 Crimson Chargers, who know a thing or two about postseason success, began tournament play with a convincing 3-0 win over Concord in the Class 4-A Penn Sectional.

Memorial, which won the sectional title at Concord a year ago in a field which did not include Penn, topped the Minutemen 25-22, 25-14, 25-17.

Memorial, now 25-9, advances to play Warsaw (23-7) Saturday at 11 a.m. in the first sectional semifinal. The Crimson Chargers, who have won sectional titles seven of the last eight years, beat the Tigers 2-0 in the Mishawaka Invitational back on Aug. 29 and then 3-1 at Warsaw on Sept. 1 in their Northern Lakes Conference matchup.

Coach Jacquie Rost’s team, which lost in the semistate final a year ago, used offensive balance to best Concord. The Chargers had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Minutemen 3-2 in their NLC regular-season meeting.

Memorial also welcomed back senior Darrian Mowery. The standout middle had missed 14 matches before playing in limited action this past Saturday in the Carmel Invitational after suffering a high ankle sprain in a tournament back on Sept. 26. Mowery had six kills Tuesday night.

Autumn Taylor and Christa Knapp each had seven kills and Mowery and Bailey Brouwer six each for Memorial in the win. Alexis Wilson had three aces and nine digs, Krystal Grubb had 28 assists and two aces. Kaylin Szucs led the defense with 18 digs and Lindsey Stahl had 10. Kayona Malone had seven blocks (four solo) and Taylor five (one solo).

Concord finishes its season at 16-14.

Sectional play at Penn continues Thursday night with Penn versus Elkhart Central at 6 p.m., followed by Northridge versus Goshen. Warsaw will then play Memorial in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. Saturday with the Thursday winners then playing in the second semifinal.

The sectional championship is Saturday at 7 p.m. at Penn.

Bremen Claims Win At Central Noble

Bremen sidelined the hosts in a first-round sectional match at Central Noble Tuesday night.

The Lions topped Central Noble 25-20, 25-16, 25-21 in the opener of the Class 2-A sectional.

Bremen advances to play Prairie Heights in a semifinal Saturday at 11 a.m.

Action at Central Noble continues Thursday night with Fremont facing Westview at 6 p.m., followed by Whitko versus LaVille.

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. with the title match at 5 p.m.