CUMBERLAND — Second-ranked Greely recovered from a two-set deficit at home Wednesday night to defeat third-seeded Falmouth 3-2 and head to its first volleyball state championship match in three years.

Greely senior setter Hannah Butland, who won her first Class A state title as a freshman, said the seniors on the team wanted a chance to play for another and felt that chance slipping away in the first two sets against Falmouth.

So Butland said the players talked more, passed more and cranked up the intensity to dominate the final three sets and eliminate the Yachtsmen (11-5).

“In the third set we didn’t want to lose,” Butland said. “Once we forgot about the first two sets, we were passing better. Just getting past the semis is a great feeling.”

Greely (13-3) will play fifth-ranked Scarborough (12-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday at South Portland High for the Class A championship.

After trailing nearly the entire first two sets and losing 25-20 and 25-15, Greely Coach Kelvin Hasch said his team switched from a more defensive approach in the backcourt to playing more aggressive at the net in the third set.

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The Rangers looked like a new team, storming back to win the set 25-12 and instantly changing the momentum.

Butland was instrumental, winning eight straight service points to put Greely up 20-8 during the set.

“She runs the offense,” Hasch said.

In the fourth set, Greely charged out again with Butland winning the first three service points. Later she won two more, including one with a spike, to give Greely an 18-14 advantage en route to a 25-19 win that tied the game 2-2.

In the tie-breaking set, Butland opened it up again with seven straight winning service points to jump to a 7-0 lead, and Falmouth never got closer than that.

The Yachtsmen and Rangers traded points before Greely junior Kayley Cimino won two more service points to make it 14-5.

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Sophomore Coco Petrone served the winning point to give Greely the last set, 15-5.

It will be Greely’s 10th appearance in the Class A state championship match. The Rangers have won nine state titles.

Defensive specialist Alaina Birkel and libero Madi Tait led Falmouth in the first two sets, winning seven and six service points.

Tait closed with a spike to give the Yachtsmen the first set and the momentum going into the second.

“It was a game of coaching,” said Falmouth’s first-year coach Molly Northway, who won four Class A state titles playing at Greely for Hasch.

“I’m not sure if we let up or Greely got it together. I felt that we had control, but then when we lost it, the girls got scared.”


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