With senior middle blocker Alexa Gugliotta as a guiding force, Crater was able to shake off a late-match lull to clinch a return bid to the Class 5A volleyball state tournament with a five-set triumph Saturday night in Central Point.

The fifth-seeded Comets played to their billing for the opening two sets but lost their edge against No. 12 Bend in the ensuing two sets, forcing a winner-take-all finale that Gugliotta and company simply weren’t going to let go in a 25-14, 25-21, 20-25, 17-25, 15-10 marathon.

“We could’ve beaten them in three, we just kind of got complacent in the third and fourth sets,” said Crater head coach Tiffany Booth. “But they came back and played as a team in that fifth set and rallied together. Alexa did a really great job of being in that senior leadership role and keeping the team together and pushing them to get through it.”

Gugliotta finished with a team-high 14 kills to go with four digs and three blocks as Crater secured another trip to Forest Grove, where the Comets (15-6) will open the eight-team tourney at 1:15 p.m. Friday against No. 4 Bend (16-7) in the state quarterfinals.

Crater placed fifth last year, while the Lava Bears lost in the championship final to Crescent Valley for a second straight season.

Top-seeded South Albany is undefeated and the Raiders return with a No. 2 seed to enter the state tournament as the title favorites, with third-seeded Churchill also proving its mettle after an undefeated run through the Midwestern League.

“There’s some really great competition but if we show up and play our game, you never know what could happen,” said Booth.

On Saturday, Addison Benson contributed 11 kills and four digs and Callie Aplin chimed in with 10 kills, 14 digs and three blocks for Crater, while Lanie Snow had eight kills and six blocks and Danica Huntoon collected five kills.

Kendall Stidham anchored the offense with 45 assists and Carsyn Hillyer provided a key defensive contribution with 16 digs.

WEST LINN 3, SOUTH MEDFORD 0: At West Linn, Mayen Akpan produced 13 kills, eight kills and one block and Julia Slaughter had 12 assists, three kills and one block for No. 12 seed South Medford in the Class 6A second round playoff loss.

Fifth-seeded West Linn (17-8) was able to secure a home sweep, 25-15, 25-19, 25-16, to reach the state tournament.

Julia Mitchell came up with four kills and four digs and Daija Malcolm added four kills, four digs and three blocks for the Panthers (17-11), while Julia Hansen had nine assists, five digs and two aces.

NELSON 3, NORTH MEDFORD 0: At Happy Valley, North Medford saw its season come to an end in the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs, 25-22, 25-12, 25-14 to No. 4 Nelson.

The 13th-seeded Black Tornado finished with a 17-9 overall record, while the Hawks improved to 23-4.

WESTSIDE CHRISTIAN 3, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 0: Poppy Freeman provided nine kills and eighth-seeded Cascade Christian got five kills apiece from Isabel McCauley and Julia Brehm but the host Challengers could not deter No. 9 Westside Christian in a 25-13, 25-16, 25-20 setback during the second round of the Class 3A state playoffs.

Hadley Wilcox supplied five blocks and Rylan Hunter had 18 assists for the Southern Oregon Conference champion Challengers (14-7), while Grace McCauley had 18 digs against the Eagles (23-5).

VALLEY CATHOLIC 3, ST. MARY’S 0: At Beaverton, No. 18 seed St. Mary’s saw its strong season come to a close in the second round of the Class 3A state playoffs, 25-13, 25-8, 25-16 to second-seeded Valley Catholic.

Ada Bernard recorded seven kills and seven digs — the latter all coming in the third set — and Sydney Holdermann added three kills and four digs for St. Mary’s (15-9).

Lexi Smith came up with seven digs and Lexi Mills contributed five digs against the Valiants (24-3), while Ella Yeamans dished out 12 assists for the Crusaders.