DERRY – They poked the Bears and almost paid for it, but there was a sense of resilience for the Milford High School girls’ volleyball team in the Division II semifinals on Wednesday at Pinkerton Academy’s Hackler Gymnasium.

The No. 3 Spartans (17-2) took a two-set lead and No. 2 Coe-Brown Northwood Academy (17-2) battled back, but the comeback ultimately fell short as Milford ended the Bears’ season with a 25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 15-12 victory.

The 3-2 win for Milford books the Spartans a spot in Saturday’s D-II final against No. 1 Somersworth, and ends Coe-Brown’s streak at three consecutive finals appearances. 

“It’s all about energy, it’s all about believing in yourselves,” Milford coach Haley Patch said. “Before we set foot on this court, we knew that nobody really believed in us outside of the 20 individuals that are on our roster. It was all about … reminding them that they needed to have confidence.”

Milford nearly put the match away in straight sets, leading 18-11 in the third, but Coe-Brown wouldn’t allow itself to be swept away. Milford had taken the first two sets over the slow starting Bears 25-15, 25-22, before Coe-Brown awoke from its slumber, led by kill machine senior Emma Zeblisky (21 kills), and took the next two, rallying in that third set for a 25-23 win and taking set four, 26-24 to even things up at 2-2.

“I never doubted our team, but I thought we would get it done in three,” Patch said. “But Coe-Brown has the experience over us, and that alone, it sits with you. They had the experience on their side. You can never count out Coe-Brown and what they're capable of.”

The Bears were without their senior middle hitter, Stella Vachon, who suffered an ankle injury in the quarterfinals.

“They started believing,” Coe-Brown head coach Renee Zobel said. “They’ve done this all year. The second that everyone counts them out, they dig deep and make magic happen. I don’t think another team could lose a key player like that right before the semifinals and do what they did tonight.”

Thus the teams went to a dramatic deciding fifth set that was like four sets in one: a 5-0 start by the Spartans, followed after by a CBNA timeout and a 9-0 Bears run, followed by a Spartan rally to knot things at 10 before the seesaw of the final points that produced a 15-12 Milford win.

The Bears were up, 12-11, before a bad hit tied it at 12. Milford’s Emma Desrochiers then served out the match, getting an ace, a CBNA hit out of bounds, and an ace to put Milford in the finals

Besides Zeblisky, Coe-Brown was paced by senior libero Haile Comeau’s 25 digs, and nine kills by junior Kelli Daniel.

Patch was pleased with how resilient the Spartans, who were led on offense by Abigail Krulis (14 kills, 15 digs) and Savannah Watson (10 kills, three aces, 16 digs), were.

“I think we got a little nervous at times, a little rattled and stopped doing the things we know how to do,” Patch said. “Again, just settling down, staying grounded, and fixing those things.”

In that final set, Zobel felt something was just a little off despite a nine-point run.

“We just couldn’t get in a rhythm,” she said. “Our passing started to break down a little bit. We were making ome aggressive plays, just too many errors.”

Thus the run of three straight finals ends for the Bears, who won it all in 2021 but lost to Oyster River the last two years.

“It’s a tough loss, Zobel said. “I made a million adjustments tonight, and they handled that. … We came up a little bit short but I’m proud of their fight.”