Members of the Hollis Brookline girls volleyball team console each other after falling to Bedford 3-2 in the Division I title match Saturday in Derry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

DERRY – They gave it their best shot.

The Hollis Brookline High School girls volleyball team had the two-time defending champion Bedford Bulldogs more than nervous Saturday morning.

But in the end, that will have to be HB’s silver lining,as while they gave Bedford its toughest match in the last three season, the Cavaliers fell 3-2 to the Bulldogs in the Division I title match at Pinkerton Academy.

In fact, the Cavs were five points away from ending the ‘Dogs firm grip on Division I, up 2-1 in sets and tied 20-20 in the fourth set.They could almost taste it.

But the Bulldogs got the next two points, and then moved to a 25-22 fourth set win. And in the fifth and deciding set, Bedford, behind the intense kills of Lindsey Healey, went on to a 15-11 win.

“It’s really tough, and it’s really hard because I know how badly we wanted it,” HB senior setter Sophia Jordan said. “At the same time, we played so hard, I’m so proud of my team.”

She should be. The Cavs couldn’t handle the Bulldogs in the last two Division I championship matches, but they were one of two teams that took a set from Bedford (21-0) during the regular season.

And they played Bedford tight throughout, leading for half of the first set before falling 25-22, but then evening things up in set two by the same score before basically doing no team had done – dominating Bedford in the third set, 25-15, to put the Bulldogs on the brink of giving back their throne to the program that dominated the sport for four straight years before Nashua South won it all in 2019. HB has been in the finals seven of the last eight years.

“No one has (played Bedford like that) in at least a couple of years, right?” said HB coach Becky Balfour. “They’re a great team. We had them. We could’ve had them. Just a couple of points. I thought we played lights out spectacular.”

Hollis Brookline’s Cheyenne Colbert (24) tries to get a kill shot past the block attempt of Bedford’s McKenna O’Connell duirng Saturday’s Division I title match in Derry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

In that fourth set, with Bedford up 22-21, Healey had a major kill to make it a two-point lead. HB led 2-1 in the fifth set on an ace by Maia Schneider, but a four-point run by the Bulldogs made it 8-3 with Healey again leading the way.

“We just had to start playing volleyball,” Bedford coach Anna McGann said. “We started playing volleyball, playing our game, not worrying about the venue, or the meaning, or what the outcome was going to be, I knew we were going to be in good shape.

“Hollis Brookline, I know a lot of those athletes on that team, they’re a fantastic group of kids, They work really, really hard and they played a fantastic match.”

The Cavs (18-3) were led by an amazing 29 kills by Cheyenne Colbert. Jordan had a school record 55 assists, but also four aces, while Schneider had 27 digs.

Other key contributors: Kate Berrigan (seven kills, five blocks), ary Fei Berrigan (six kills, four blocks) Annette Schlunk (nine kills), Abbie Hoffpauir (nine kills) and Anneli DiVirgilio (17 digs, three aces).

It truly was a team effort, and they set several school records for a five-set match. Balfour will miss this group, especially the tandem of Colbert and Jordan, the latter who is going to play next fall at Rollins College in Florida.

“I love this group of girls,” Balfour said. “I don’t know how much fun (Bedford) was having, but we were so in it. That’s what we told them, be in it, fight. Going to five like this, and taking it right to the end, I’m super proud of them.”