Coming into its 3A state semifinal match with LaPlata Thursday night at the University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum, River Hill had yet to play in a fifth-set tiebreaker this season.
But after winning the match, 22-25, 30-28, 25-12, 21-25, 15-2, the Hawks looked as if they had been there before.
"We were down to one game from not being there on Saturday" for the state championship match, coach Lynn Paynter said. "They wanted to win and they did, and I'm really proud of how (they) finished out the match."
It was the first loss of the season for LaPlata (18-1), which had already played in two five-set matches.
River Hill will play North Hagerstown for the 3A championship Saturday night at 7:30. North Hagerstown defeated Towson in four sets in its semifinal match.
The Warriors, led by senior Mary Lavery (23 kills, 12 digs, five aces), have lost in the state semifinals two years in a row.
"Our passing broke down and when you have a passing breakdown you lose your confidence, you lose that power," LaPlata coach Catherine Lavery said of the third and fifth sets. River Hill "did a great job with their serving and they just took us down and if you can't pass the ball you can't win."
Last year Towson defeated LaPlata in the state semifinal, and then went on to beat Centennial for the state championship.
LaPlata was on the verge of building a nearly insurmountable advantage when it led, 23-21, in the second set until River Hill senior Kristin Lee (11 kills, 19 digs) recorded three kills in a four-point span to get her team back in the match. The two teams then battled back and forth until senior Amber Wiswell (13 kills, three blocks) closed out the victory with a kill and a block.
In the third set, River Hill (18-1) jumped to an 11-4 lead and never wavered. LaPlata never trailed in the fourth set, but a service run by Caitlin Davis to start the fifth set established the tone for the tiebreaker. The senior setter recorded four aces in that run, and by the time she finally stepped away from the baseline, her team was ahead, 9-0.
"I just tried to keep serving the ball in and to generally the same area because I knew that once you shank a couple you start to get nervous," said Caitlin Davis, who finished with 35 assists, 17 digs and six aces.
After that run, Lavery got the Warriors on the board with a pair of kills. But then Kelly Davis, Caitlin's twin sister, went on a five-point serving run including one of her five aces to close the match.
River Hill's only loss this season was to 4A East regional champion Arundel in the District V title match. In that match, River Hill could not get much going at the net, but on Thursday night, the Hawks outblocked the Warriors 7-2, with Cassidy Davis (four blocks) and Wiswell (three) leading the way.
River Hill won three regional titles in a row between 2007 and 2009, advancing to the state championship match in 2009, but the Hawks have never won a volleyball state title.
"We knew we wanted it, Kristin and I and Caitlin, we've been here so many times, freshman and sophomore year," senior Marta Roman said. "We don't want it to end like that, we want to go all the way this year."