Photo by Jeff Blake/ColumbiaWeddingPhotos.com Keenan’s Jocolby Brown sets for a teammate against Gilbert High. W.J. Keenan’s players reacted to their 3–0 loss to Gilbert in the state volleyball playoffs with a mixture of anger and disappointment Tuesday night.

But it was difficult to tell what stoked their emotions more.

• The fact that the program’s bid to return to the Class 2A final ended two rounds shy of its goal.

• The fact it was Gilbert that ended their season for the second consecutive season in the third round (last year was 3–1 loss).

• The fact they lost to a strategy they knew was coming, had prepared for, and still couldn’t stop.

• The fact they had lost on their home court for the first time in nearly two years – the entire varsity careers for most of the Raiders (seven juniors, three sophomores and a freshman).

Photos by Jeff Blake/ColumbiaWeddingPhotos.com Keenan’s Natalia Gathers taps the ball over the net against Gilbert. Keenan’s Brandolyn Mack sets for a teammate against Gilbert. • The fact their season was over.

Or all of the above.

“We pretty much knew the match would be a competitive level like this,” Keenan coach Gwen Wilcher said. “We know how the other plays. We both make the playoffs regularly and both tend to go out around the third round.”

That competitive level produced game scores of 25–20, 25–21, and 25–18, but the dynamic in each game differed. In the first, neither team led by more than four points until game point. The second was a game of runs: Keenan built leads of 10–3 and 15–8 before Gilbert went on a 13–1 run that proved the difference. In the final, Gilbert took command with an 8–2 at mid–game and held off a late Keenan push.

“Every game, even one this close to the state final, is a learning experience,” Wilcher said.

The loss provided plenty of teachable moments.

Keenan knew Gilbert didn’t play a power game, preferring instead a placement game filled with tips of the ball around and over blockers. The Raiders countered by often sending only one blocker to the net, but the Indians still produced points, dropping cross–court dinks just over the net and in front of remaining front line players who had dropped back from the net.

“They did what we were expecting,” said Gabrielle Goforth, one of only three seniors on the roster and one of two in the heavy playing rotation. “We knew they would try and dink us. We handled it well, but not as well as we should have.”

Player and coach shared a similar assessment of the team’s play on serve receive and digs. When those were played forward to setters or front line players, Keenan used its outside hitters to great effect. However, a handful of times in both of the first two games those shots found their way either too close to the net to set up shots that could finish the point or, worse, just over the net, setting up easy kills for Gilbert.

While neither area led to a bushel of lost points, they combined to produce the separation Gilbert needed in games so closely contested.