Making its first state semifinal appearance in school history, No. 6 Century wasted no time acclimating itself to Ritchie Coliseum and earning itself a match against the defending Class 2A champs.
With a 3-1 victory over Loch Raven Wednesday night, the Knights advance to Saturday's 2A final against Fallston, a 3-1 semifinal winner over Calvert.
"This will be our first trip to the state finals and we were very, very excited," said Century coach Becky Groves, whose team won 25-11, 23-25, 25-10, 25-11.
Senior outside hitter Abby Thrift had 27 kills, 10 digs to lead Century, and her sister, sophomore setter Hailey Thrift, dished 43 assists. Senior outside hitter Morgan Thomas added 11 kills and 13 digs.
Century (17-1) began the first game with a 7-1 run behind the serving of Haley Bordner and Morgan Thomas. After a Loch Raven timeout, the Raiders trimmed the lead to 8-5 before the Knights closed with a 17-6 spurt.
Loch Raven (14-4) bolted to a 14-6 lead in game two and then held on. But Century broke out to 12-3 and 8-1 leads in the final two games, respectively, to take control of the match.
Senior setter Devin Herlihy (13 assists) and senior middle blocker Caroline Stanka (9 kills, 5 digs) had the top performances for Loch Raven, which was making its first state semifinal appearance since 2006.
"They are a pretty good team all the way around," first-year Loch Raven first-year coach Matthew Smith said of Century. "They don't let the ball hit the floor, and it makes it tough."
Fallston 3, Calvert 1: No. 5 Fallston dropped the first set 25-22, but rebounded to win the next three, including an emotional 37-35 win in set two, to make it back to the Class 2A state final.
"I'm very impressed with the intensity these ladies showed throughout the match," said Cougars coach Alison Winaker, whose tean closed out the match with 25-19 and 25-18 wins in the final two games.
Fallston (19-2), which arrived late because of an accident on U.S. 1, came out a bit slow. Calvert (18-5) jumped ahead 8-3 and led 14-8 before Fallston strung together three straight points to make it 14-11. The Cougars got no closer in that set.
"Calvert came out strong and we played on our heels," Winaker said.
In the second set, the teams matched each other point for point. The set featured 19 ties, 10 lead changes and 12 match points before Fallston senior Rachael Holehouse put away back-to-back kills for the win.
Holehouse finished with 25 kills. Abby Claborn added eight kills, and Emily Letke had seven. Anna Holehouse had a team-high 33 digs.
In the third set, Rachael Holehouse, who had previously abandoned her nasty jump serve, went back to it. Two aces pushed the Cougars ahead 6-2, but the Cavaliers battled back to tie the game at 10. Calvert went ahead by three, 15-12, but the Cougars fought back to lead 20-18 on another ace by Holehouse. The Cougars closed out the set with four straight points after getting serve back.
In the final set, consecutive kills by Letke, Claborn and Sierra Offutt staked Fallston to a 9-4 lead. Calvert aided the Cougars with three service errors, two out of bounds and one into the net.
A kill by Rachael Holehouse later in the set ended a run by Calvert, and the Cougars maintained at least a four-point lead the rest of the way.
Kara Collins had 17 kills and and Rachel Hornick had 16 to lead Calvert. Calvert's Jessica Phelps led all players with 40 digs.