She was a junior when BCLUW volleyball’s maiden voyage to state last year ended in a semifinal loss to Ankeny Christian.

“We did our crying, we said goodbye to the seniors, and pretty much as soon as we got home, we said, ‘that’s not happening again,'” Crawford said. “That sucked. That feeling was not good.”

What followed was a year of small goals for the Comet volleyball team that led to one big goal.

The Comets made history with a sweep of Janesville in the Class 1A semifinals at the Xtream Arena in Coralville on Wednesday.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - The BCLUW volleyball team rallies together after defeating Iowa Star Conference rival Janesville in Wednesday’s Class 1A state semifinals at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

BCLUW won, 25-17, 25-23, 25-19 to advance to its first-ever state championship game — a rematch with Ankeny Christian, the two-time defending state champions, at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

“We thought we were going to have a big win last year, and it just wasn’t meant to be,” Crawford said. “But that was enough motivation for us to say that we weren’t settling for another semifinalist trophy tonight.”

Grace Farnsworth pounded in 15 kills with nine digs and Olivia Peters added eight kills for the Comets (33-10) in the triumph over their fellow Iowa Star Conference member.

BCLUW never trailed in the first set, leading 15-12 and then breaking away with a 6-0 spurt that included two kills from Goldie Kaisand, a Farnsworth kill and three attack errors from Janesville.

The second set was much more competitive — Janesville led 11-7 early until a 4-0 Comet run tied it at 11-11; Janesville fell behind 16-14 and surged with four points of its own to a 18-16 lead.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - BCLUW’s Brinna Benson, top, watches intently as fellow defensive specialist Raegan Crawford makes a dig during Wednesday’s state semifinal volleyball match in Coralville. Crawford had 15 digs in the Comets’ three-set sweep over Janesville.

A pivotal moment came at 19-all, where Crawford nearly dove into BCLUW’s bench to recover an errant dig from a teammate — the save was successful to get it back over to Janesville’s side, where the Wildcats sent an attack long to make it 20-19 and forced Janesville’s final timeout of the set.

“There’s almost a play every game where [Crawford] just gives us that spark,” BCLUW head coach Megan Yantis said. “She finds a way to make those plays, and it just fires us up.”

Brinna Benson also made a diving dig off a tip at the net to save a rally point for the Comets and Crawford had another impressive dig in the third set as everything started to fall in place for BCLUW.

“I had a coach when I played town league that would stand me up in the middle of the court, chuck a ball to every corner and tell me to go get it,” Crawford said. “When I’m back there, the only thought in my mind is that the ball’s not going to hit the floor. It’s like the game where you’d dive around your living room keeping a balloon off the ground and giving yourself rug burns. Having that mentality makes it fun for me, gives me motivation to get the next one.”

Farnsworth had back-to-back kills to clinch the end of the second set and, combined with sophomore Olivia Peters and the energetic twin middles of Goldie and Virginia Kaisand, Janesville wasn’t able to get into system often on Wednesday.

“Seeing them swing it’s like, wow, I’m lucky that I’m not on the other side,” Crawford said. “They do that to us at practice so tonight it’s like, ‘Wow, I’d hate to be you guys right now.'”

Ankeny Christian (39-5) has lost just one set this year to a 1A team — BCLUW took one from the Eagles at a Dunkerton tournament on Sept. 28, in a match ACA went on to win in three competitive sets, 22-24, 21-19, 15-12.

The Comets also took a set from ACA in last year’s four-set semifinals matchup.

“We know how to beat them this time, we know what to do to get that state championship,” Farnsworth said. “We just have to use the outlets that we have and trust each other.”

ACA swept Holy Trinity in the finals last year, adding on to its 2022 title in a five-set comeback against Gladbrook-Reinbeck. The Eagles swept Don Bosco and Riverside to get to Thursday’s title bout.

Yantis suggested the key to victory on Thursday was to not think about the moment too much.

“We know they’re going to come out swinging,” Yantis said. “So we just have to stay consistent, stay composed and continue to play Comet volleyball. But I couldn’t be more proud of these girls and how they’ve continued to grow.”

CLASS 1A

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Nov. 5

Ankeny Christian def. Don Bosco, 25-18, 25-18, 25-22

Riverside def. North Tama, 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 15-11

Janesville def. St. Ansgar, 25-23, 27-25, 25-22

BCLUW def. Holy Trinity Catholic, 25-22, 25-16, 25-19

Semifinals

Wednesday, Nov. 6

Ankeny Christian Academy def. Riverside, 25-12, 25-21, 25-18

BCLUW def. Janesville, 25-17, 25-23, 25-19

Championship

Thursday, Nov. 7

No. 1 Ankeny Christian Academy (39-5) vs. No. 6 BCLUW (33-10), 7 p.m.