The Milford High girls volleyballers celebrate Wednesday night's state semifinal final shocker over three-time defending state champion Gilford.

DERRY – Top-seeded 16-1 Gilford High hit Wednesday night’s Division II state volleyball semifinals like a runaway freight train, steaming to seven straight shutout wins including Saturday’s quarterfinal.

That mattered little to the Milford High girls. Neither did the fact that the Golden Eagles were three-time defending state champions.

The No. 3 Spartans had a bit of history to make on their own.

“We’ve been preparing for this. I don’t think we were expecting this (upset), but we came in looking for a fight,” said Milford senior Izzy Unsworth. “There was no holding back. We prepared to swing and keep swinging the whole time.”

Milford fought from down 1-0 and 2-1, then fended off four potential match points, ultimately pulling off the shocker, 19-17, in the fifth to unseat Gilford and claim a sport in Saturday night’s (7 p.m.) state title match vs. Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, here at Pinkerton Academy’s Hackler Gymnasium.

“Just playing with a lot of heart. Really, in the past couple weeks, they’ve turned it up a notch,” said first-year coach Haley Patch, who directed the Spartans to their seventh state volleyball final ever and first since 2018.

“They’re really clicking, and they’re working hard and really swinging, getting after it on every play.”

The marathon upset lasted over two hours and had fans on both sides enduring one epic roller-coaster ride of emotion. Milford never stopped believing, playing loose and swinging freely.

“We knew it was going to be a hard game. Once we knew we had this, it wasn’t going to be impossible, we knew we could pull together and do it,” said setter Madi Murphy.

A tentative start cost the Spartans in the opening set, which Gilford dominated, 25-16.

“We all have a little bit of nerves, but it’s just because we want it so bad,” said Patch. “I think we have had this goal for a very long time. We just had to get out the jitters, and we were on our way.”

Game 2 saw a much more determined Milford effort, starting with the defense.

Seniors Unsworth and Murphy just refused to let the ball hit the floor. Then Ali Fortin, Alena Letendre and Peyton Schwab quickly followed suit.

“We talked about it (after the first game). We were just going to put our bodies on the line to make it happen for us,” said Patch. “We had to be willing to risk it all for the big reward. It was a whole team effort.”

Unsworth caught fire from the outside, ripping three quick kills and the hit parade was contagious. Letendre hammered one home, and both Fortin and Bailey Johnson ripped winners, pushing the Spartans to the lead and the 25-21 set win.

Games 3 and 4 followed a similar script.

Gilford claiming the third, 25-21, and Milford simply refusing to go softly into that good night.

Nursing a slim 7-5 lead in the fourth, Milford found instant energy from an unlikely source, its only sophomore on varsity, Hannah Harrington.

The 10th-grader was called on to serve in her first action of the night and proceeded to rattle off eight straight points, with three aces. Fortin and Letendre again laced winners in the run as Milford pushed the margin to 15-5 and ultimately knotted things at 2-2 with a 25-16 win.

“This is her first time on varsity, first time in the playoffs, she stepped it up for us,” said Patch. “We’re counting on everybody, and we really counted on her tonight. She’s been a consistently strong server, and you have to believe in those players to turn it up when we need them most, and she did.”

The fifth was an instant classic all to itself.

The junior Johnson was at her best, pounding three early kills, leading Milford to a quick 11-6 advantage.

But top-seeded three-time defending champs don’t roll over either. Gilford tied things at 12-12, setting up the most dramatic of endings.

The Eagles had chances to close it out, twice at 14-12 and again at 15-14 and 17-16, only to be denied.

Letendre’s rocket to knot things at 17-17 had the Spartans thinking enough was enough. And her senior libero, Crosby, obliged, serving out the final two points of the match for the 19-17 win.

“We were definitely very hungry for this win, and we put our hearts in it.

I just had to go back to what I normally do,” said Crosby of the humongous moment. “Just visualizing, and that really helped at the end.”

Milford does get a little time to celebrate, but the Spartans will need to summon up the same kind of emotion and execution on Saturday night when they chase their first volleyball state title since 2002.

CBNA took the regular season meeting between the teams back on Sept. 16. Like Milford, which has now won 12 straight matches, the Bears are on an eight-match victory streak.