MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — The Unity girls volleyball team handed Payson Seymour its worst loss of the season in the second game of Saturday's Class 1A regional championship at Brown County.

Rita Speckhart wasn't quite sure how the top-seeded Lady Indians would react to the 25-10 second-game loss, since her players had never experienced a loss quite like that this season.

"I was hoping but I didn't know," Speckhart said.

The Payson players proved their mental toughness, rebounding to defeat second-seeded Unity 25-22, 10-25, 25-19 and earn its first regional title since 2006.

"I don't think we've ever been even remotely close to being down that far from anybody," said senior Alese Speckhart, who had 10 kills. "It was kind of embarrassing in a way."

But the Lady Indians (33-2) were able to put the embarrassment behind them and live to face Girard, winners of the Carrollton regional, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the Class 1A Central Sectional semifinals.

After the Lady Mustangs jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second game and led by as many as 16 points, Payson senior Stephanie Harris set the tone in the third game, hammering down one of her match-high 12 kills to begin the final game.

"Right off the bat, our first hit was great," Speckhart said.

Unity tied the game at one, but Payson jumped out to a 13-5 jump and never trailed in the final set.

The Lady Mustangs cut the deficit to 13-10 and wouldn't go away -- cutting a 20-13 lead to 21-17. But that's as close as they came as the Lady Indians did a better job with their serve-receive and their passing to prevail in the final set.

Unity began the match by taking a 12-8 lead. But the Lady Indians went on a 9-0 run, led by Harris' serving, to prevail in the first set.

"If we would have held that lead in the first game I think we would have won it in two," Unity coach Seth Klusmeyer said. "And we really totally took them out of their game the second game."

The Lady Mustangs' serving combined with the Lady Indians' passing problems led to Unity's second-game victory.

"The passing has to come," Speckhart said. "It doesn't matter who has big swings on the front row. If you can't pass, like you saw in the second set, it didn't matter who we had up there."

Rachel Rush led Unity with 11 kills and Lainey Brown had nine. Deanne Donley had 30 assists for the Lady Mustangs, who end their season at 27-11.

Harris had an all-around game, with nine blocks and four aces. Alese Speckhart had 21 digs, Catherine Richards had four blocks and Erin Smith had 31 assists for Payson, which has won 19 straight matches and hasn't lost since Sept. 29.