BIDDEFORD – Biddeford’s quest for a second straight state volleyball title ended Wednesday in a Class A quarterfinal, suffering a four-game loss to Falmouth, 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 25-23.

“It’s sad, but when we first started the season I knew we were young,” said Biddeford Coach Ruth Shaw. “We lost a lot of big-time players last year. We were just going to take it one game at a time and see how we did. I’m really proud of where we ended up. I don’t think anyone expected that after losing the Gatorade Player of the Year (Keila Gregware).”

Falmouth next plays No. 1-seed Greely in Cumberland in a regional semifinal on Saturday.

Falmouth and Biddeford split two regular-season matchups, but it was evident Wednesday night that Falmouth was the team that deserved to advance. The Yachtsmen received stellar performances from junior Danielle Li, sophomore Katrina Meserve and senior Nicole Rogers.

“They were our hitters tonight, they really did a good job for us,” said Falmouth Coach Gary Powers.

Shaw agreed.

“They had a phenomenal hitting night. I hadn’t seen that from them all year. The two girls that they had hitting middle were great,” she said.

Biddeford raced to a 10-4 lead in the first game, but Rogers and Meserve found their groove and quickly racked up kills, carrying Falmouth in games 1 and 2.

Game 3 looked as if it would go the same way, with Falmouth leading by about five points most of the way.

The Tigers found their resolve and gave their raucous crowd one final victory of the season.

Shaw said she turned to the starters and rotation she’s used most of the year to pull out the win.

The Tigers took the lead, 22-21, on two straight plays that looked almost identical and ended with a spike from Renee Trottier. Biddeford didn’t relinquish the lead from that point on.

“We just seemed to get real tight. We’ve had that problem all season,” Powers said.

“When the games get close, we get tight, the passes don’t go where they’re supposed to and we can’t run our offense.”

Game 4 went back and forth, with Biddeford mounting a brief comeback before a spike off the hand of Falmouth senior Emily Seaver bounced off a Biddeford player far out of play.

Powers says his team will go as far as its energy takes them.

“We have to work on our overall attitude, if we start to lose we have to keep our energy up and that will help the cohesiveness of the team.”