Madonna’s Geena Birkhimer connects on a kill against Cameron during Tuesday’s regional tournament match. - Andrew Grimm

They made the wait well worth it.

After waiting for No. 8 seed Cameron and No. 9 seed Clarksburg Notre Dame to finish a five-set battle in the play-in game to determine who they would be facing in the night cap, top-seeded Madonna finally got to start warming up around 8 p.m.

Once the match with the Dragons — who prevailed in the early match — got going, it was pretty much all Blue Dons. Madonna got stronger as they went, rolling to a sweep in the Class A Region 1 quarterfinals by scores of 25-14, 25-12, 25-5.

“We were ready to go,” Madonna head coach Jae Hissam said. “We worked hard all year to get to play at home in the tournament and we were excited to be able to do that. We worked hard and we’re ready to let people know what we can do. We had a nice crowd in here and that makes for an exciting night.

Madonna’s Abigail Boyd goes up to hit past Cameron’s Bailey Long. - Andrew Grimm

“The girls were ready to go all day. There was some challenge to keep them focused while waiting, I told them to go back in the locker room and get refocused late in the first game. We saw it was the third set and started putting our shoes on and getting ready thinking it was time to go, and they kept going, so it was a little difficult. We had a team dinner at 4 (p.m) so they had been here all day and were ready to play. But, they did a great job of refocusing, getting ready and coming out and playing strong.”

With the win, which improved Madonna’s season mark to a sparkling 25-9-1, the Dons advance to the regional semis, which they will host on Thursday. They’ll battle the winner of No. 5 seed Trinity Christian and No. 4 seed Magnolia on the Joanna Bernabei-McNamee Court.

Cameron and Notre Dame will rematch in the loser’s bracket on Thursday. The winner of Thursday’s winner’s bracket match will advance to the regional final next week having to be beaten twice.

“We had seen Cameron a couple times,” Hissam said. “I’m very pleased with the girls, they did a great job and got off to a great start to the tournament. Hopefully we can keep it going.”

The Dons got off to quick starts in all three sets against Cameron. In the first two, the Dragons battled back for a while before Madonna pulled away. In the third set, there was no push back as Madonna cruised to closing things out. It was their third win over Cameron this season.

Madonna’s Lacy Quering sends a ball over the net against Cameron. - Andrew Grimm

For Madonna, Geena Birkhimer tallied 12 kills, four digs, two blocks and two aces, Madi Owens recorded seven kills, three aces and three digs, Breea Birkhimer tallied 10 digs, Lacy Quering recorded seven kills, Rylee Birkhimer finished with six kills, three aces and five digs, and Sophie Brady racked up 27 assists, five aces and seven digs.

MAKING CONTACT — Madonna’s Rylee Birkhimer takes a swing against Cameron during Tuesday’s regional tournament match. - Andrew Grimm

STRONG PERFORMANCE — Madonna’s Rylee Birkhimer, Sophie Brady, Lacy Quering, Danyka DeCaria, Geena Birkhimer and Breea Birkhimer celebrate a point against Cameron during Tuesday’s regional tournament match. The Blue Dons swept the Dragons to reach the regional semis. - Andrew Grimm