Cranston West was blown out twice by top-seeded Barrington in last Tuesday’s Division II volleyball semifinal. Both times, the Falcons fought off the mat, but they couldn’t quite force the Eagles to the brink.

West lost game one 25-11, regrouped to win game two 25-15 and promptly lost game three by another 25-11 score. In game four, West rallied from a nine-point deficit and led 23-19 but watched the Eagles take the next six points to win the game 25-23 and the match 3-1.

The comebacks were an impressive show of grit by the Falcons, who could have easily been buried by momentum and the cheers of a raucous Barrington crowd. But it was ultimately a disappointing finish.

“I’m happy, but whenever you get to this point, you want to go further,” said West head coach Tom Ferri. “We were looking to get to the semis. I’ve got to give my girls credit. They played hard. Barrington was the better team tonight. They were undefeated until late in the season and I know why.”

Through all the night’s ups and downs, the Falcons found themselves two points away from a winner-take-all game five and a shot at an upset.

Early in game four, it didn’t look like West would get nearly that close. Fresh off the big game three win, the Eagles raced to a 12-3 lead. Again, though, West found its way. Two aces by Isabella Diaz powered a six-point run that got West back into the game. Later, the Falcons got the lead on kills by Victoria Johnston and Courtney Lambrese, an ace by Kristen Traficante, and a block by Lambrese that made it 20-18. After the Eagles put up a block on Lambrese, West got another kill from Lambrese, a hitting error by the Eagles and a block by Diaz to go up 23-19.

“In the fourth game, we served better overall and we had a nice run,” Ferri said. “I give the girls a lot of credit. We were right there.”

But the Falcons couldn’t complete the comeback this time.

A kill by April Keenan made it 23-20 and gave the serve to Barrington’s Rebecca Sun.

She never gave it up.

Sun served up an ace to make it 23-21 and West couldn’t handle her next serve either, making it 23-22. He third serve was another big one and the first pass sent West’s Courtney Salisbury sprinting toward the bench to keep the ball alive. She managed to bump it, but West couldn’t get the next ball over the net. The game was tied.

“When we’re on, we’re on,” Barrington head coach Ron Enos said of the serves. “We’ve got some jump serves here and there, good placement when we can. We served tough.”

The Falcons managed to get Sun’s next serve over the net, but it was quickly sent back on a kill by Megan Donnelly, which gave Barrington match point.

Again the Falcons passed the serve and this time got into a long rally. But the Eagles delivered the match-clinching point when West couldn’t dig a hit by Rebecca Egge.

West had been envisioning a fifth game with plenty of momentum – but never got to see it.

“That was really our game to win after having been down by that much,” Ferri said. “Usually if you win like that, the momentum’s on your side and you can bring it to game five. I thought we had the advantage.”

Barrington’s own comeback was just too much.

“It’s playoffs so it’s going to be up and down,” Enos said. “They took advantage of some opportunities and got some runs, especially when we weren’t serving well. Third set, they had a lot of serving errors and we took advantage of that. We both settled down in that final set. Two good teams, they’re going to take advantage of any opportunities they’re given.”

The Eagles dominated the first game of the match, blowing open a 14-9 game by winning 11 of the next 13 points. Six of the 11 came on kills, and the packed house got louder with each one.

But West held on. The Eagles committed 16 errors in game two, and once they started to mount, West found its footing. Two kills by Annabelle Hauck powered a run that gave West a 17-11 advantage. After a brief surge by the Eagles made it 20-15, Kim Kluglein served up two aces as West won the final five points to take the game.

“I was very proud of the way they played in game two,” Ferri said. “We got it handed to us in game one, but the girls came back and showed me what they were made of.”

Unfortunately for the Falcons, it didn’t last. West started game three with a service error, fell behind 4-0 and never recovered as the Eagles got back to their steady play. West committed four service errors in game three.

“It was up-and-down, inconsistency on both sides,” Ferri said. “I think it came down to serving. The game that we won, they served poorly. When you serve poorly, you can’t get on any kind of run. I think that was the theme of the match.”

West managed to regroup again in game four, but the Eagles’ late surge sealed the deal.

Barrington moves onto the Division II semifinals, where it will play Exeter/West Greenwich, the No. 2 seed from Division II South.

West finished with a 14-6 record and will bid farewell to seniors Lambrese, Johnston, Traficante, Elizabeth Paolella, Danielle Damiani, Haley Signoriello and Cassie Manni.