CHAMBERSBURG — It was business as usual for the Greencastle-Antrim volleyball team on Thursday night.

Playing against local rival Chambersburg at CASHS Field House, the unbeaten Blue Devils rolled to a 25-11 win in Game 1 and had to fight a little more to win Game 2, 25-20. It looked like another 3-0 win for G-A, something it had done 12 times this season.

Abby Eagler

But … not so fast.

Chambersburg turned things around and evened the match with gritty wins of 25-20 and 25-21 to put the Blue Devils on notice.

Led by 4 kills from Abby Eagler, Greencastle pulled out a 15-10 win in Game 5 to finish the regular season with a sparkling 18-0 record. It was only the second time all year G-A was pushed to go to the fifth set.

“This is why we scheduled Chambersburg at the end of the season,” Blue Devil coach Madee Goodwin said. “They’re always good and it will help us heading into the playoffs to play this kind of match.”

In the final game, G-A held a 7-5 lead before running off 5 straight points on kills by Eagler, Wren Roberts and Kylie Kerns, plus 2 Chambersburg hitting errors. That made it 12-5 and put the Trojans in a bad spot.

“When you fall behind in the fifth, it’s really tough to come back with rally scoring,” Chambersburg coach Ty Frelin said. “If you get down three or four points, it’s hard.”

The Trojans could only get as close as 14-10.

In Game 1, Eagler got the final kill shot. In Game 2, leading 20-18, the Blue Devils got kills from Kerns (2) and Eagler, plus a block kill for Eagler to put it way.

Ava Zeigler

Frelin said, “Once we fell behind by two games, the girls were just playing for pride.”

Chambersburg was able to close a big hole in their central defense that had been exploited by Greencastle. Also, setter Ava Zeigler was able to create better chances for her hitters, especially middle hitter Nizaya Hawkins, who ended up with 11 kills and 8 blocks.

In addition, gaining an early lead helped win Game 3. Late in the game, Eagler and Hawkins traded hits before a pair of kills by Kasey Moser finished off a 25-23 win for the Trojans.

In Game 4, with the scored tied at 19 after a Hawkins kill, Lexi Poe served for an ace and Hawkins blocked for a point and Chambersburg won 25-21.

Goodwin said, “It looked like we got complacent after the first two games. I got them riled up a little bit for the fifth, and I think they played with a little chip on their shoulder then. I said, ‘If you want this game, then go get it.’

“I thought Abby played really well. She made a few mistakes, but then was strong mentally to put them aside for that final game.”

Eagler finished with a very impressive 31 kills, and added 15 service points with 4 aces, and 15 digs. Kerns contributed 15 kills, 11 digs and 38 assists.

The Blue Devils will be off until Thursday. The defending District 3 champion, and current No. 1 seed, gets a bye in the first round, and will host a quarterfinal match on Thursday.

For Chambersburg, which finished 9-11, Moser had 14 kills, 9 points and 19 digs, and Zeigler assisted on 32 kills and added 14 digs.

Frelin said, “We’ve played like this all year. We play a lot of close games, but we just can’t seem to get over the hump. We lose these 25-21, 25-23 sets and that makes a big difference. That’s why we were 9-11 instead of maybe 15-5.

“We scheduled a lot of tough non-league matches this year, which continued to challenge us. And that’s the way it is in our division, too.”

NOTES: Chambersburg’s Kaylie Stull had 20 digs and 7 points, Poe had 10 points and 13 digs and Riley Cramer had 4 blocks … For Greencastle, Roberts had 8 kills, 10 points and 17 digs, Jordyn Wagner had 8 kills and 3 blocks, Kaitlyn Alvey had 11 points (4 aces) and 27 assists and Kinzee Hudson had 10 points and 23 digs.