Patrick Henry High School’s volleyball team pushed, prodded and fought with traditionally tough Auburn for four tightly-contested games on Wednesday night. It wasn’t enough to equal a victory.

Auburn was able to earn a 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 26-24 victory over Patrick Henry in the semifinals of the Region C, Division 2 tournament at Glenvar High School, but it wasn’t easy.

PH (20-5) coughed up a 20-16 lead in the pivotal third game and couldn’t hold a 24-21 edge in the decisive fourth game. That was the difference between the Rebels seeing their season end or advancing to the state tournament for the first time in school history.

The former scenario was what Patrick Henry was stuck with.

"My girls were fighting hard and doing everything they could do," said PH coach Beth Matlock Austin. "We had three hitters with double digits [in kills] and my setters were working hard. Everybody was doing their job. Just sometimes it doesn’t always turn out how you like."

After struggling in the opening game, Patrick Henry was strong in the final three games. The Rebels finished with 50 kills as Cadence Wilmoth (20 kills), Kelsey Weddle (18 kills) and Hannah Doss (10 kills) racked up the bulk of those.

However, Auburn answered.

"Pretty frustrating," Wilmoth said. "But it was [against] a really good team. We tried our hardest. They are a good team, I hope they go far."

However far Auburn’s postseason journey takes them, they certainly gained some respect for Patrick Henry.

"They have hitters all the way around," said Auburn coach Sherry Millirons. "That’s something we haven’t seen since the preseason. They have hitters coming at you every rotation. I’m proud of my girls for sticking in there and coming back in those two games."

Auburn (21-6) has a multi-faceted attack of its own. Even more notably, six of the nine players on the Eagles’ roster are sophomores.

"At times you see our youth," Millirons said. "At times, they are pretty impressive for being as young as they are."

The most impressive 10th grader for the Eagles was hitter Jordan Watson, who collected 14 kills, 10 digs and seven blocks. She certainly earned them against Patrick Henry’s tall front line.

"It’s definitely like nothing we’ve seen," Watson said. "We’ve seen teams that have [one] hitter like Radford. … [PH] has two hitters that are really good, so we had to adjust to that."

Auburn showed some resolve by closing out the fourth game with five straight points, avoiding a fifth game and securing the victory.

"I think we all just had to calm down and not play so uptight," Watson said. "We had to relax and just tell ourselves that we knew how to play volleyball."

Jordan Link (nine kills) and Hannah Paredes (29 assists, eight digs) also played well for the Eagles. Wilmoth felt both teams were evenly-matched.

"It’s tough," Wilmoth said. "We were very similar."

Megan Cleary and Kasey Uecker finished with 17 assists for PH. It was a rough end to the season for a team enjoying its best season in school history.

However, Austin took a big picture approach.

"Everybody just kept saying good luck this year, but I don’t think anybody believed that we would make it like we made it," Austin said. "The girls fought hard all year and I’m proud of them. I wouldn’t trade any of them for anything."