HAMILTON – It’s getting to be a pattern for the Western Michigan Christian volleyball team.

In all of their recent tournament matches, the mighty Warriors have hit trouble spots and fallen behind various opponents.

But WMC fans should never worry, because Coach Trent Smillie never seems to fret. He trusts his players to work through whatever challenge they are facing, and he’s confident they will prevail in the end.

That’s what happened again on Tuesday in the Division 3 state quarterfinal match at Hamilton High School, which the Warriors won over Watervliet 3-0.

WMC cruised to an easy 25-17 win in the first set, then had to battle to claim the sweep, winning the second set 25-23 and the third 26-24.

The Warriors will now face Reese in a Division 3 state semifinal match on Friday at noon at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s state title match.

This is the first time WMC volleyball has ever advanced to the state Final Four.

“It feels so good,” said senior Kyla Wiersema about having the opportunity to win a state crown. “We lost in the quarterfinals two years ago, and we made history by making it that far. So this feels so good to be a part of another team making history.”

With two more wins, the Warriors would become only the second girls team from Western Michigan Christian to win a state championship in any sport.

“We had never had a girls championship,” said junior Kendal Young about the possibility of following the WMC girls cross country team, who took home a state title this fall. “To back one up with a second one would be iconic, honestly. We’ve been talking about it and really working for it. It’s our turn to follow them up and get one too.”

Part of what makes the Warriors’ tournament run so special is that they have no designated captains, and are a player-driven team.

Most coaches call time outs to calm their teams during bad moments, but Smillie often resists the temptation to interrupt play, and when he does call time out, he often lets the players do the talking.

“It’s something I try to do, because I can only be there with them so much,” Smillie said about his coaching style. “They’re on the court and they’re doing the things themselves. That’s part of how we teach them, and they know they need to be able to figure it out on their own.

“We have the potential for a whole lot of good coaches coming from this team in the future.”

In the second set on Tuesday, the Warriors trailed 20-17, and appeared to be headed for a loss. But Smillie didn’t call time out. Instead he relied on the girls to stay on the court and work through the adversity.

“We’ve had a lot of matches,” the coach said about the players being accountable in the moment. “We’ve played a lot of tough teams and been up and down. But mainly we’ve stayed level-headed. We haven’t been rattled much in any match.”

The Warriors ended the set by scoring 8 of the next 11 points to win 25-23.

“I said ‘I’m not losing. We’re not losing this set,’” said Wiersema, who took over the second and third sets with numerous kills at critical times. “Someone was going to go home crying, and it’s not going to be me. I’m just going to slam it and take over.”

In the third set, Watervliet scored four straight points to take a 19-17 lead and seemed to have the momentum.

But again Smillie relied on his players to figure out the moment, rather than calling time out.

It worked again for the Warriors, who outscored Watervliet 9-5 down the stretch to clinch the match and their ticket to Battle Creek.

“It’s kind of unreal,” said Young about making the state semifinals. “It’s not really kicking in yet. We’re going to Kellogg Arena, and that’s something that hasn’t been done before. It’s really special.”