PHOTO BY ROMM PHOTOGRAPHY

Colleen Bonacci blocks for the Stow volleyball team, which won its fifth straight match, upsetting Brecksville on Wednesday in the Hudson Division I Regional semifinals. This block provided the winning point in Game 1 against the Bees.

HUDSON -- Cinderella is starting to look like a sad story compared to the tale being told by Stow's volleyball team this postseason.

The upstart Bulldogs continued their magical OHSAA Tournament run on Wednesday night by upsetting heavily favored Brecksville 25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22 in the Hudson Division I Regional semifinals.

Stow (15-11) will challenge Painesville Riverside (24-3) in the regional championship match Saturday at 2 p.m. The winner of that match advances to the state tournament in Dayton next weekend.

The Bulldogs, who have survived five loser-go-home tourney matches in the last two weeks, were the better team from the get-go against the Bees (22-4). They scored the first seven points in the first game, then closed out the contest with five straight points -- the final one coming on a block/kill by senior middle hitter Colleen Bonacci.

Stow would take eight-point leads in the second and third games, then went up by nine en route to winning the fourth -- and the match. Junior outside hitter Jenna Chilinski provided the semifinal-winning kill, setting off a wild celebration that featured a number of beekeeper suit wearing students.

Senior middle hitter Charlotte Sykora, sophomore middle Lexi Stefanov, junior Jackie Close and sophomore Kelly Vili also turned in strong performances for the Bulldogs, who were just 3-7 in Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division matches.