PORTSMOUTH — The lady Patriots really started playing their game in the third set of its state semifinal matchup against Juanita Sanchez Tuesday night, but the Cavaliers prevailed 3-0 to

advance to the Division-III title game.

Juanita Sanchez will face the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between Scituate and Shea in the finals at Rhode Island College on Saturday.

Portsmouth, playing on the road in Providence, nearly extended Tuesday’s match when it tied the score at 24 apiece in game three. However, two successive spikes by the Cavaliers sealed the deal, 26-24.

The first game was tied 13-13 before Juanita Sanchez pulled away to win 25-16. In game two it was more of the same, as the Cavaliers combined strong serving with a solid net game up front to prevail 25-11.

Game three was a different story, however. The Patriots kept it tight throughout, with the Cavaliers making more mistakes and Portsmouth capitalizing on them. The Patriots held leads of 13-12 and 18-17, but couldn’t pull away to force a fourth game.

“I think we were just tense, honestly,” head coach Lisa Zabel said after the game. “The first two games we were just pushing every ball — just too tight. We needed to loosen up a little bit and keep the balls off the net and we would have been fine. In the third game, we were passing better.”

The Cavaliers seemed to have a power edge when it came to spiking the ball, but Ms. Zabel said her players offset that somewhat with their tenacious defense.

“They have girls that can pound it, but our girls are known as a scrappy team and we did dig out some of those balls,” she said.

Added senior co-captain Nicole Eggeman, “You have to give it to Juanita; they definitely brought it tonight. But, so did we; the odds just weren’t in our favor.”

Come a long way

Tuesday’s contest was a rematch of last year’s D-III semifinal, which the Patriots won in four games despite

competing in only its second season of competitive volleyball. Portsmouth went on to lose to Johnston in the finals.

Ms. Eggeman and another senior co-captain, Isabel Hamilton, were among the students who convinced administrators to start up a girls’ volleyball program three years ago.

“They mean everything to me,” Isabel said of her teammates. “We’ve been with these girls for years and I just can’t wait to see what they’re going to do next year. I’ll come to as many games as possible.”

Added Nicole, “We’re such a family and we’ve worked so hard,

day in and day out. Every day we give 110 percent. But I love this team more than anything. It’s too bad it’s the last season, but I don’t regret anything. We worked so hard this season and we came so close for a third-year team.”

The team is losing eight seniors, but Ms. Zabel still expects to have a strong squad next year.

“We have a lot of young girls coming in and we still have three starters coming back,” she said.

To view more game photos by Rich Dionne, click link below.

PHS girls volleyball vs Juanita Sanchez