For the first few seconds after the final point ended, Hempfield's players showed no emotion at all.

Then, as soon as the gravity of the situation hit them, the tears began to flow.

This one hurt.

When you pour everything you have into a five-game thriller and end up two tiny points short, it hits hard.

Hempfield lost to Allentown Central Catholic, 3-2, in the PIAA Class AAA girls volleyball semifinals at Central York High Saturday. Game scores were 22-25, 25-22, 26-24, 24-26 and 16-14.

"I thought we had them," Hempfield coach Pat Shawaryn said. "They just made one or two extra plays. One or two things go our way and maybe we're still playing instead of them."

It was an epic match pitting two perennial powers that couldn't have been more even.

Allentown Central Catholic is the District 11 champion and was gunning for its third consecutive state title. Hempfield has won six District Three crowns and two PIAA titles this decade.

How close was this semifinal?

Neither team led by more than five points in any game. Each of the first four games was tied at 19 or later. Both teams finished with 53 kills. Heading into the final two points, which were won by Central Catholic, the teams had won 111 points apiece.

It was that close.

"If you play that match 10 times, it's going to be a five-game match every time," Shawaryn said. "The teams are too good to just get beat up real easily."

Hempfield had one shot at advancing when it led 14-13 in Game 5. Central Catholic, which hasn't faced that kind of gut check often in recent years, had to shrug off the pressure of possible elimination and show championship mettle.

Central Catholic coach Laurie Corcoran called a timeout to calm some nerves and offer inspiration.

"It was tough," Corcoran said. "It was either, you're going to come back and catch up to them or have your season end here.

"I told them at the timeout, 'Listen, girls, this comes down to all our hard work. All the minutes, hours, days that we put in comes down to this right now. There's no doubt in my mind that you guys have the heart to win this match.' "

Central Catholic proved its coach's instincts correct.

The Vikettes saved the match point when Hempfield's dig attempt landed just wide. They followed that by winning the final two points, the last coming on a kill by Marika DeSanctis, her team-high 14th of the match.

"Hempfield is such a well-disciplined team," Corcoran said. "Their serving was very aggressive. They were trying to get us out of system as much as possible. All in all, every single set we played was close. It went back and forth, back and forth."

Hempfield showed resiliency in defeat. After winning the first game, the District Three champs lost Games 2 and 3 and trailed 11-6 in Game 4. They managed to pull that one out despite facing a match point at 24-23.

With the score tied at 24, Rachel Lenz had a key block to give her team the lead. Riley Kratzer's ace forced the decisive fifth game.

Megan Forbes led Hempfield with 15 kills and three blocks. Lenz had 13 kills and six blocks. Kratzer was tops with three aces and Brittani Young delivered 16 digs.

It was the final high school match for Forbes, Kratzer and Ellie Ressler, the three seniors who won back-to-back district titles and kept the tradition of the program going.

The narrow margin of defeat made this playoff exit particularly difficult for them to swallow.

"My seniors were everything to me this year," Shawaryn said. "I wanted them to walk out a champion. We were just one point away from it."