BATTLE CREEK – For a few exciting minutes, it seemed as though the Western Michigan Christian volleyball team was going to pull out another one.

The Warriors had their bad spots throughout their Division 3 state tournament run, falling far behind North Muskegon in the district finals, and losing sets in both of their regional matches.

Each time they managed to pull it together and stay alive, and they nearly did that again on Friday against Reese in a D3 state semifinal match at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek.

They lost the first two sets and fell far behind in the third, then battled back to pull out an exciting 25-23 win.

WMC fought hard in the fourth set, as well, and it went down the wire, with the score tied 24-24, 25-25 and 26-26. But Reese took the last two dramatic points, and the season was suddenly over for the Warriors.

WMC lost by scores of 20-25, 18-25, 25-23, 26-28

WMC finished with an amazing 49-6 record, a conference championship and district and regional championships.

The Warriors won 21 of their last 22 matches of the season, and advanced farther in the state tournament than any previous WMC volleyball team.

“They are a very scrappy, strong defensive team,” WMC Coach Trent Smillie said about Reese. “We came out a little flat and had to battle back. But I’m proud of the girls. They left it all out on the floor today, and they had a tremendous season.

“We won 21 matches in a row coming into this one, and that’s hard to do, especially against some of the tough teams we’ve faced. And it’s hard to do when you get to this level.”

Defense and serve returns were a problem for the Warriors all day. They gave up a lot of kills at inopportune times, and the Rockets had a 14-4 advantage in service aces.

Reese’s Maddi Osantowski created major issues for the Warriors by slamming 37 kills.

“Our serve-receive really struggled at points in all four sets,” Smillie said. “They serve tough, and any time you play a team that serves tough, this can happen.”

Even with those problems, WMC fans never gave up hope, because their team has always responded to adversity so well.

The Warriors did that again, actually, after losing the first two sets.

The Reese players were dancing in unison to “Cotton Eye Joe” after the second set, and the Rocket student section was chanting “overrated” at the No. 1 ranked Warriors.

Reese took leads of 6-0, 16-10 and 22-17 in the third set, and appeared on the verge of sweeping the Warriors.

But the Muskegon squad scored eight of the last nine points to pull off the comeback win 25-23 and force the fourth set.

WMC’s Kyla Wiersema had five kills during the dramatic comeback.

The fourth set was close from start to finish, with the score tied 11 different times. The Warriors fought off match point three different times and pulled into a 26-26 tie, but Reese got the last two points and escaped with the win.

“We battled at the end and we were ready to battle some more,” Smillie said.

“Watching the way these girls played over the second half of the season, there were plenty of times I could have called time out, but they have gotten through (tough moments) so many times, and they almost did it again.”

Kyla Wiersema finished with 24 kills and five blocks for WMC. Kendal Young had 38 assists and Maddie Wiersema had 28 digs and five blocks.