It's been a while since the Parkland volleyball team has been trailing two games to none in a match, let alone losing a game in a match, but that wasn't the case last Tuesday night at Souderton High School.

The Trojans (25-0) lost the first two games and were put into a huge hole and a situation that not many of them have faced all year. But in a championship caliber way, they never worried and climbed all the way back to take the next three on their way to a 3-2 win over Exeter in the District 11 Class AAA semifinal by scores of 21-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-17 and 15-7.

"As a team we knew that we had to step up, and each one of us had to play our games," said junior setter Kristin Krause, who finished with 44 assists. "We knew this was our time and we stepped up when we needed to. We took advantage of all of our opportunities."

The Trojans advance to play Hempfield in the state final at 3 p.m. Saturday at Richland High School in Johnstown.

It was something that not many in the crowd thought would be possible. Only holding the highest lead of three points through the first two games, Parkland, the No. 1 ranked team in the state, according to MaxPreps, was in a 2-0 hole.

The Trojans were six points away from being swept and eliminated from the tournament when junior Sienna Salvaggio took the ball to serve.

Parkland went on to score the next nine points, thanks in large part to the blocking up front of Erika Foose, Brooke Robertson and Krause.

"We're a very energetic team," Salvaggio said. "We had to keep using that energy and focus on what we could do on our side of the net to be successful. When we got that figured out, we played much better."

From that game on it seemed that nothing would stop the Trojans from finishing this one off.

Salvaggio, who had 16 kills, served up an ace to give her team a 21-12 lead in the fourth set. Robertson, who had 14 kills, forced the fifth game with a hit to make it 25-17. And then in the final frame, the Trojans jumped out early and never led by less than four on their way back to the state final.

"We didn't want this to be our last game," said Kristin Krause. "We all came together. We fought really hard and we've been working for this all season."

Now Parkland can take a deep breath and prepare for its fourth and final goal of winning a state championship Saturday.