Bishop Guertin's Akira Koravos (19) and Emma Knapp leave the floor disappointed after the Cards fell just short of a major upset, falloing to Bedford 3-2 in the Division I semis Thursday night in Derry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

DERRY – They had no fear, and were definitely in it to win it.

Yes, the Bishop Guertin High School girls volleyball team gave the unbeaten top seed Bedford Bulldogs all they could handle on Thursday night, but fell just short in the Division I semifinals, 3-2.

With the win, Bedford (20-0) gets its 100th straight win, and a chance to win its fifth straight championship on Saturday morning at 10 vs. No. 3 Pinkerton Academy. The Cards? They get instant respect, and the left Pinkerton’s Hackler Gym late last night knowing they gave it their best shot – and then some.

“Bedford has won, I don’t know, how many years in a row?” Guertin’s top hitter, Akira Coravos said. “We thought, why not us, because somebody had to do it? … We’d try to go for it, why not? Bedford played a helluva game.”

As volleyball usually can be, it was a match of incredible swings. Guertin proved they’d be tough by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first set en route to a 25-19 win, and nearly made it a 2-0 lead before the Bulldogs pulled out a 25-23 win in the second set, followed by a 25-18 Bedford win in set 3. But then the Cards, keyed by Koravos kills and their serving, routed Bedford 25-13 in the fourth set to set up the decisive drama-filled fifth set. Those were just the fifth and sixth sets the ‘Dogs have lost all season.

“They were definitely here to fight, and I appreciate and love the effort,” Bedford coach Naomi Rascati said of the Cards. “I think they worked hard for it, we were just able to work a little bit harder and stay on top of it.”

Guertin jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but the ‘Dogs rallied, things were knotted at 7 and then the went on a 5-0 run, keyed by kills from Madeline Fennessy and McKenna O’Connelto lead 12-7. Bedfod’s 6-2 hitter Katherine Allard as well as 5-11 Melody Mccarthy were also tough, Allard at or near the top on the team in kills.

“I think it was their experience,” Guertin coach Kyle Clement said of the difference in set 5. “Even though a lot of their starters haven’t been here before their team has been here before. “They’ve had that experience. I think that definitely helped them. But I think part of it was we just ran out of steam. I told them during the week that if we were going to do this, it was going to take four or five. I tried to condition them for it, but I think we just ran out.”

Bedford had a lot of uncharacteristic unforced errors, but didn’t panic.

“We had more than usual,” Rascati said. “It comes and goes with games, and you’ve got to play through it.”

Regardless, Clement had a good feeling about this team all season long, as they finished 16-5, certainly nothing to sneeze at. Besides Coravos, BG was also paced by, among others, Caitlin Harrington, Veronica Gomez, Brooke Partridge and Allison Marino.

“I told my girls that’s probably the closest game they’ve had in about five years,” Clement said. “To push a team that hasn’t lost a game (match) in five years that hard, they have nothing to be ashamed of. … Proud of them.”

And the fact the Cards grabbed the early lead in the fifth set showed how close they really came.

“We went into it saying this game is going to be really short and we need to put our all out there as soon as possible,” Koravos said. “And we were tired. … We had faith in each other more than anything else..”

Clement had a game plan, as he had his players attack the middle beyond Bedford’s front line whenever possible. “Our defense was huge today, we didn’t let anything hit the ground,” he said. “We watched tape on them earlier in the week, we had a game plan coming in and executed it pretty well.”

Bishop Guertin’s Allison Marino goes to make a hit on a block by Bedford’s McKenna O’Connell during Thursday night’s Divison I semifinal at Pinkerton Academy’s Hackler Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Guertin lacked height, but that was nothing new, and the Cards relied on their athleticism and smarts instead.

“I’m so incredibly proud of all of them,” Koravos said. “We worked so hard for this. Especially those of us who have been on this team since freshman year.

“BG hasn’t been this far in a long time, and I think we gave Bedford a real good run for their money, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted.”