The Gorham Rams and the visiting Red Riots fought through three hard sets Thursday night, Gorham taking the first two before South Portland grabbed one of their own. But the decisive fourth set belonged entirely to the Rams – literally.

When Cassidy Landry lined up for the first serve of the final series, she couldn’t have known she was about to lead her teammates in blanking the Riots 25-0 and claiming victory. Or could she?

“Actually, that’s Cassidy’s second time doing that,” Gorham head coach Nicole Rizzo said. “She’s a tough server. I just told our girls to play Gorham volleyball, to play our best volleyball.”

Whether Landry, or the rest of her girls, felt the brilliant performance coming in advance, they got it. And for the seniors, the 3-1 victory is extra meaningful, as it’s their last regular-season home match. The Rams enter the playoffs 8-6, in the bottom half of the bracketing, but squarely in.

South Portland, meanwhile, slips to 3-10 on the year. At present, they linger outside the post-season, and it’s unlikely a win in their last bout, hosting NYA on Oct. 20, will propel them forward, as the Panthers are themselves struggling, and not worth a great many Heal Points.

The Riots are a young team, though not as individuals; as individuals they are exclusively upperclassmen, excepting one sophomore and one freshman. Since the sport is growing by leaps and spikes in southern Maine, they’re young as a program; as a program, South Portland volleyball just moved to varsity status last year. Any number of other teams have also made the transition recently.

So the Riots’ struggles are understandable. Although, the way they engaged the Rams through the first three sets Thursday night belied their relative newness to the circuit. Gorham took set No. 1, but it was hardly a blowout – 25-21. Nor was the second, which the Rams also won, a thrashing – in fact, South Portland built a 5-1 lead early and Gorham had to claw back to eventually win 25-23.

“We needed to serve tough, we needed to communicate better,” Rizzo said of her team’s keys to coming back in the second. “We were having some confusion on the court, but I called a timeout. We were able to talk better, we were able to make plays. It ultimately came down to trusting each other and communicating on the court.”

The Riots held on late in the third set to halve the Rams’ advantage. After jumping out to a 10-3 lead early and maintaining even a 17-11 lead midway through, South Portland fought off a resurgent Gorham late, ultimately taking the set 26-24.

“The third set, we got down in a hole right from the start,” Rizzo said. “We had to fight right from the beginning. And then our Libero went down – she had one big dig, and she went down, and that was a shock to us. We had to put in a girl that doesn’t normally play back row.

“So we were playing with adjustments, and I do think we played really well.”

And that’s when Landry and Co. launched an offensive they’d never forget, battering the Riots early and perhaps throwing them into disarray. South Portland coach Autumn Hawkes called more than one timeout, presumably to mentally regroup her girls, but they were on the run for good. 25-0 in the fourth and final set.

Rizzo praised Landry’s play, but also that of other girls as well. “Kristen Curley, in the middle-front, had a bunch of key kills for us,” she said.

“South Portland was making really good plays,” Rizzo added, “bringing them back over the net. But we didn’t stop fighting, we didn’t let up.”

Gorham’s Emily Peterson descends from the net in Thursday’s match with South Portland.South Portland senior Emily Savage savages the ball at the top of the net.South Portland’s Hailee Owen leaps at the net to block Gorham’s Kristen Curley.Riots Emily Savage (15) and Holly Black (3) vie over the net with Gorham’s Cassidy Landry.Gorham’s Kristen Curley (8) and MacKenzie Bowers (10) double-team the ball against visiting South Portland.