The Scarborough Red Storm started a bit slow against Greely on Saturday, Oct. 31, but after falling behind early, Scarborough took a collective deep breath and regained their poise. They went on to claim the next three sets against the Rangers – as well as their first-ever state championship.

Scarborough head coach Jon Roberts stressed just how much the Storm’s victory required contributions from every corner of the court:

“Above all it was an amazing team effort,” he said. “We have a very deep bench and I got to play a lot of players who each helped make this win possible.”

Roberts praised a number of his players, and the impact each one had on the match:

“Seniors Emily Hanson and Chloe Gorey led the team in passing and both had some key defensive plays when Greely started to gain momentum,” he said. “The offense was led by hitters Taylor Marinko, Jordyn Cowan and Kacey Foerster and set up by setters Caroline Goodwin, Libby Chadbourne and Lilly Young.”

The Rangers won the first set 25-20.

“Greely played amazing and jumped out to an early lead in game one,” Roberts said. “We were able to settle down and play with them for the rest of the game even though we couldn’t quite catch up.”

Down 1-0, the Storm nevertheless dug deep, and eventually prevailed. They took the second set 25-23, the third 25-20 and the fourth 25-22.

“Even though we lost the first game,” Roberts said, “the girls recognized we had played point-for-point with [Greely] after giving up the early lead. That gave us confidence going into game two. The rest of the match we never game up, passed the ball well, played aggressive defense and really stepped up our serving.”

That 3-1 final closes the Storm’s season at 13-5. The team entered the playoffs ranked fifth; they slipped by Biddeford 3-2 in the prelims, then bounced No. 4 Thornton 3-1 in the quarters and No. 1 Cape – the reigning queens – 3-1 in the semis.

Greely retires till 2016 at 13-4. The Rangers earned the second seed in the bracketing, then bested seventh-place MDI 3-0 in the quarters and third-place Falmouth in the semis. The State Final unfolded at South Portland.

The Scarborough High School volleyball team claimed the Class A state championship Saturday afternoon with a come-from-behind victory against Greely. From left to right , at top, is Coach Jon Roberts, Coach Heather Brown, Hayley Nelson, Lauren Quintiliani, Emily Hanson, Taylor Marinko, Natalie Simonton, Lilly Young, Raegan Sheil, Caelyn Sheil, Libby Chadbourne, Marissa Edwards and Coach Kim Stoddard. From left, at bottom, are Jordyn Cowan, Abby Snow, Aubrey Humpage, Emma Budway, Chloe Gorey, Kacey Foerster, Jillian Harvie and Caroline Goodwin.Junior Kacey Foerster’s jump serve scored a lot of points for Scarborough.Relentless defense by players like Captain Emily Hanson made the difference for Scarborough.Captain Taylor Marinko led the team on offense.

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