Hector Longo photo -- The Hollis Brookline girls are fired up in their semifinal win over Windham on Thursday.

DERRY – The premier high school volleyball program in the state is right back where it belongs.

Hollis Brookline High School simply outgunned Windham in an impressive Division I state semifinal on Thursday, 25-14, 27-25 and 26-24, to claim a spot in Saturday’s title match. Here at Pinkerton Academy’s Hackler Gym at 4:30, the second-seeded Cavaliers will challenge defending champ and unbeaten top seed Bedford for the title.

“Final 4, to win in three, against the No. 3 team is pretty awesome,” said Hollis Brookline coach Becky Balfour. “That’s a very good team. We knew what we were getting into. I’m just so proud of my team.”

For Balfour and the Cavs, it’s almost a return to normalcy, reaching the finals here at Pinkerton.

Last year, the title game, due to Covid-19 precautions, was held at the home site of Bedford High. Two years ago, the Cavs were stunned in the quarters by Portsmouth.

“We learned from that (loss),” said Balfour, who has presided over eight state champs at HB, including four straight from 2015-2018. “We haven’t been at Pinkerton since (2018). This is a little new for us.”

After storming to a 25-14 win in the opening set, Hollis Brookline was pushed to prove its mettle. The Cavaliers certainly handled that responsibility quite comfortably.

In both the second and the third, they trailed late.

Windham held a 23-17 advantage in Game 2.

“That’s what we do,” said Balfour of the comeback.

“We just focus on staying in the moment, being consistent.”

Sophomore Annette Schlunk blunted a Jaguar run with a kill and kick-started HB on a march of its own. With Maia Schneider serving, Lydia Daskalos stood strong at the net with a rejection. A Windham error, a Schneider ace and one more stickback from Daskalos sliced the margin to 23-22.

Windham would then have the first of three game points swatted away by Daskalos. Meaghan Coutu added had a huge ace to wash away another.

And with the score knotted at 25-25, the Cavs had Amy Ryherd serve it out.

“We knew Windham was going to storm back in that second game, and we just buckled down,” said Balfour, noting that it all started with the senior Daskalos.

“Lydia, isn’t she awesome? At practice yesterday, she was saying, this is not going to be our last practice, let’s get in there tomorrow, play like we’ve been practicing and get after them.

“The non-seniors are playing for these five seniors, and the five seniors are throwing it down.”

Up 2-0, Hollis Brookline just started unloading up front, paced of course, by Daskalos, but deft setter Sophie Jordan (27 assists) certainly shared the wealth and spread things around.

“The third set, we were trying to fire on all cylinders,” said Balfour. “We work to have a balanced offense.”

It certainly showed there.

Lily Roberge, Schlunk, Coutu and Cheyenne Colbert all took turns, taking it right to the Jaguars from every conceivable angle.

Credit the Jags for hanging tough, but when the libero, Schneider, turned an amazing one-handed, diving save into a clean winner at 24-24, it was all but over for Windham.

And Colbert smacked team-high kill No. 12 of the night to end it.

Bedford, now 20-0, and HB, now 19-2, met back on Sept. 17 with the Bulldogs rolling, 3-0.

To Balfour, that seems like an eternity ago.

“We’re a much different team now,” she said.