DALLASTOWN — In its first-ever trip to the final, James Buchanan came oh-so close to winning a District 3 girls volleyball championship Thursday evening.

The Rockets faced Trinity in the Class 3A final at Dallastown and held a 2-1 lead, but the Shamrocks pulled out wins in the final two games to take a 3-2 victory.

“In the fourth and fifth sets, we did not play our best,” JB coach Erica Piper said, “and that’s the hardest part because we had put ourselves in position to win.”

Trinity (18-2), which advances to the PIAA Tournament, won the first game 25-15. But the Rockets regrouped to take the next two games, 25-21 and 25-21. In the third set, James Buchanan, which finished 17-4, faced a healthy deficit, but ran off a 10-1 surge, and scored the 25th point on an ace by Aubrey Trei.

Piper said, “We knew Trinity was going to be tough, and I thought we didn’t meet the challenge in the first set. But we really started to pass out of serve receive in those next two sets and it was awesome to see the girls respond.”

In the fourth game, the Rockets zipped to a 6-2 lead, but the Shamrocks got hot at the right time and outscored JB from that point 23-7 to take a 25-13 victory, and followed it up by taking a 15-7 win in the fifth.

Kendyl Stoner paced the Rockets in kills with 17, while Shelby Crider posted 14 and Lexi Martin had 13. Martin also came up with 5 blocks.

Brynleigh McCracken was credited with 32 assists and Aamiyah McCullough added 9. Trei produced 19 digs, followed by Stoner (16), McCracken (10), McCullough (7) and Emileigh Linn (5). Trei, Martin and Stoner each had 1 ace.

“This group has been together since the summer, so it’s hard knowing it’s over,” Piper said. “It hurts right now, but like I told the girls, I’m proud of them and all the history we made this season.”