FREDRICK — Patterson Mill girls volleyball hadn’t lost a set in more than a month entering the Class 1A state semifinals. But on Tuesday, the Huskies had no answers for the two-time reigning state champions.

Even when Patterson Mill reached the precipice of its first set victory of the night, Clear Spring countered. The Huskies down two sets but leading, 24-21, and were one point away from a win to get back in the match. But the Blazers scored six of the next seven points. A Patterson Mill strike sailed just beyond the back line and its season ended in a flash.

“We dug ourselves holes,” senior setter Zoe Valan said. “It was our mistakes.”

Patterson Mill fell in straight sets to Clear Spring, which moves on to face Boonsboro and play for its third straight 1A state championship on Saturday. But for Patterson Mill, the top-seed in the 1A bracket that had only lost twice before Tuesday, the focus prematurely shifts to next season.

The two constants from Patterson Mill’s three consecutive 1A semifinal runs are a pair of seniors. Valan is Patterson Mill’s anchor and has starred for years. Defensive specialist Amber Zigler took a different route.

Zigler didn’t make the team as a junior and needed convincing to try out again as a senior. She not only made the squad but excelled in filling a key role left open by last year’s graduating class.

“They have equally great stories, but they kinda took two different paths to get here,” coach Joshua Wagener said.

Together, they led a team that entered Tuesday 15-2. Valan and Zigler came up short of breaking through the ceiling that’s capped the team in years past, but Patterson Mill figures to have another shot in 2025.

The Huskies’ roster Tuesday featured six juniors, including several starters. Sophie Lopano and Harlon Jones, their two leading hitters, highlight a nucleus that Wagener is enamored by and their teammates have faith in.

“I think they could go all the way next year,” Valan said.

An evenly contested first set Tuesday closed with five-seed Clear Spring pulling away. The Blazers attained a 19-14 lead and staved off a Patterson Mill comeback bid in a 25-18 opening set loss for the Huskies, their first dropped set in their last seven matches.

The Harford County squad’s struggles continued into the second set, where Patterson Mill quickly found itself in a 7-2 hole to spell a Wagener timeout. That break to reset started a run that brought Patterson Mill back to a 17-17 tie. But a late slide let Clear Spring recover and the Huskies found themselves in a two-set deficit with a 25-23 loss.

“They were just a little cleaner than we were,” Wagener said. “We’re notoriously a slow-starting team. They did a great job digging out, but they just didn’t have that little bit extra.”

Patterson Mill vs Clear Spring volleyball semifinal | PHOTOS

Another uneven open pushed Clear Spring to a 9-3 lead in the third set and brought another Wagener timeout. This stoppage sparked a similar comeback that took the set to a 20-20 tie, but a similar late stumble ended Patterson Mill’s season.

The Huskies nearly avoided the formidable Clear Spring, but upsets elsewhere in the bracket brought the two 1A heavyweights together.

Patterson Mill preferred this daunting road over an easier one. It again proved too much. But next year, when they’ll be led by a class that’s been through a slew of heartbreaks, they hope a breakthrough finally comes.

“If it wasn’t for losing,” Wagener said, “winning wouldn’t be so great.”

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