FALMOUTH — Gracie Martin was heroic.
But Annika Hester was unstoppable.
And as a result, Falmouth’s volleyball team will once again play for a state championship.
Wednesday evening, the top-ranked Yachtsmen welcomed No. 4 Biddeford in a Class A state semifinal that lived up to billing as a hotly-contested battle of two of the state’s top teams and top hitters and while Martin’s high school volleyball career ended with 21 kills, Hester produced 33 of her own and Falmouth prevailed in four close sets, 25-17, 25-17, 17-25, 25-16.
The Yachtsmen improved to 15-1, ended the Tigers’ season at 11-5 and advanced to meet No. 2 Gorham (16-0) in the Class A state match Saturday at 1 p.m. in South Berwick. The teams didn’t play this year.
“(Biddeford was) everything they’re supposed to be and then some,” said Falmouth’s first-year coach Larry Nichols. “It was probably a great match to watch.”
Falmouth won the first set largely on the strength of its serving game, as Holly Barney had a pair of aces and Hillary Bouchard produced seven service points. The Yachtsmen shot to a 10-3 lead and while Biddeford got as close as 18-15, kills from Hester and Rose Riversmith closed it out.
The Tigers led the second game, 12-11, and the score was deadlocked, 17-17, after a Martin kill, but the final eight points went to Falmouth, as Katie Phillips closed it out with seven straight service points, including a pair of aces, to put the Yachtsmen on the brink of victory.
Biddeford refused to roll over, however, and in the third set, with Martin producing four kills, Grace Boisvert doing the same and Brooke Reissfelder assisting on six points, the Tigers never trailed. Falmouth cut a 17-7 deficit to six on a couple of occasions, but Martin, who plans to play basketball at Harvard University next year, had a pair of timely kills, then added one more on set point to extend the match.
“(Grace is) an all-around athlete,” said Biddeford Coach Ruth Shaw. “A pleasure to coach.”
Biddeford had four different leads early in the fourth game, but a kill from Hester gave the Yachtsmen the lead for good at 8-7. With the Tigers within 15-13, a pair of Hester kills opened it up and two more Hester kills, a Hester block and a Phillips kill made it 23-15. After Biddeford got a point back, Riversmith had a kill and on a Hester serve, the Tigers couldn’ return the ball and Falmouth had the match.
“We all felt we had it in us to win,” said Yachtsmen setter Summer Spiegel. “We had a little hiccup in the third set, but we finished strong.”
Hester got a lot of help from her setters, as Phillips and Speigel each finished with 18 assists.
“Between Summer and Katie, they really do a great job setting me,” said Hester. “I was a little tired and couldn’t jump as high tonight, but the sets were really good.”
For Biddeford, in addition to Martin’s production, Reissfelder had 23 assists and Boisvert added seven kills.
“We had a run there and took a game, but we started slow and if we hadn’t started slow, it would have gone five,” Shaw said.

Editor’s Note: Check out some video highlights of the match here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL1eDuIHpZ4.