SCARBOROUGH — Thursday’s Class A matchup between Thornton Academy and Scarborough was the five set nail-biter the Red Storm wanted on their Senior Night. Winning by two points in the fifth set was a cherry on top.

To beat the Golden Trojans, Scarborough had to bounce back from two deficits before prevailing 23-25, 25-17, 15-25, 25-15, 15-13.

Thornton (8-3) and Scarborough (9-1) are tied for third place in the Varsity Maine volleyball poll. The Red Storm are first in the Class A Heal point standings, while the Golden Trojans are third.

“I’m feeling ecstatic. We knew this was going to be a hard game coming into it, and winning is just going to set our excitement so much higher for this year,” said Leo Porter, one of Scarborough’s five seniors, along with Everlyn Hay, Izzy Harmon, Sophia Charland and Adrian Swalla. 

The Red Storm have played only one other five-set match this season, which they lost to Kennebunk on Sept. 18. Seven of their 10 matches have ended in 3-0 wins. Scarborough coach Nicole Petherbridge said the key Thursday’s comeback was staying focused and remaining level-headed.

“I just said, ‘We know that they’re going to want it as bad as we do …’ I think even when they called a timeout, I think we were (up) 13-10, and we were jumping for joy,” Petherbridge said. “I was like, ‘Guys, it’s not over yet,’ and sure enough, credit to TA, they came all the way back and tied it up.”

How it happened

• The Golden Trojans, led by the serving of Addie Petit, won the first set, 25-23. Scarborough held the lead for seven points, but Thornton reclaimed it for good on the 12th point.

“(Addie) is a phenomenal server,” Trojans coach Corey Huot said. “More often than not, she serves 100% for us in games. On the year, she’s around 98%, so when you can have your setter start off the game and with such consistency, it’s a great spot.”

• Scarborough evened the match by taking the second set, 25-17. The Red Storm took control when Caleb Atwood scored the second point on a serve, and they led the rest of the set.

• Thornton led the entire third set to win 25-17 and take a 2-1 lead. A lot of points were scored by the front and middle blockers of both teams, Lexi Cowie and Calli Juhring for Scarborough and Adelaide Bracy and Ruby Anderson for Thornton. Huot said Anderson has made an impact since stepping in as middle blocker due to an injury two matches ago.

• Scarborough dominated the fourth set. Natale Philibert’s opening serve led to the match’s longest volley, with the ball passing back and forth seven times. The teams swapped the lead early, but the Red Storm grabbed it for good at 3-2 and went on to win 25-15.

• Then came the close fifth set, in which the largest lead was four points.

Statistical leaders

• Scarborough: Addie Petit (21 service points)

• Thornton Academy: Caleb Atwood (12 service points)

They said it 

• “I love this senior class so much. We’ve been together since freshman year on JV, moving our way up to varsity and being able to play together is just so … I’m thankful for them.” — Scarborough senior libero Leo Porter

• “It’s really hard to gain momentum without some consistent serving. … We’re really aggressive servers, so it’s just about keeping the pressure on the other team. We know TA has a great offense, so if we can be aggressive with our serve so that they can’t run their offense as efficiently, that was a big part of our game plan.” — Scarborough coach Nicole Petherbridge

• “We’ve had good teams in the past, but I don’t think we’ve ever competed with Scarborough in four sets, and to be able to do that, to have them come back after the second set, when I think we’d lost by a decent amount, it was great to see. I think this team has overcome adversity all season, and this was another great example of just coming back in games, pushing them to two points, and that set five, I think it’s really incredible. We’re proud of where we’re at, and we just talked about how this was just a good opportunity to get us where we need to be for playoffs, when they start in two weeks.” — Thornton Academy coach Corey Huot

• “We specifically worked on blocking yesterday, knowing that TA is an offensive team, and they were going to hit at us a lot, and so we practiced being disciplined,” Petherbridge said. “Keeping our hands turned into the court, so if we got a block, it went in our favor; they did a really nice job executing on that.” — Petherbridge