Bellport - Time and again, these two teams had met, and time and again, the Shelter Island girls volleyball team had come up empty-handed. Whether it be at regionals or at the state championship, Haldane always had its way. Its tradition of excellence reads like a sparkling resume – four-time defending Section I title winners, twice a state champion – and somewhere in the mix are a few one-sided affairs against the Lady Indians.

Shelter Island senior Shelby Willumsen elevates and smashes the ball through a block at the net.

That tale was rewritten on Friday night in Bellport as the teams squared off for a sixth time for the right to go upstate. This year, SI was a little stronger, Haldane a little weaker, and it presented a prime opportunity to open some eyes. The Suffolk County Class D champs seized that opportunity and the result was arguably the most significant victory in the program's history. Despite a lapse in game three, the Lady Indians controlled the action and when Kelsey McGayhey drove a set to the floor to seal game four, they celebrated a 28-26, 25-21, 24-26, 25-19 victory in the Southeast Regional final.

Shelter Island (16-0) advances to the state final four, which will take place at the Glens Falls Civic Center beginning on Saturday, for the third time in six years, only this trip is particularly meaningful because the Lady Indians earned it. In their past two qualifying years, they won the Southeast Regional by default. This time, they had to beat one of the state's most prestigious small-school programs just to get there. They'll meet three other proud squads - Chateaugay, Cattaraugus-Little Valley and T.A. Edison - in Class D pool play which begins at 9 a.m. Saturday; SI will face Section VI champ Cattaraugus-Little Valley beginning at 10. If the Lady Indians emerge from pool play, they'll vie for the state championship on Sunday at 10 a.m.

"The states are a whole different level," Head Coach Cindy Belt said. "We've never had to win our way there, but when we've gone, we've played as well as we could."

Shelter Island's checklist at the beginning of the year included knocking off Center Moriches (it did so twice), winning League VIII outright (it ended up three games clear of second-place Stony Brook) and taking the county once again (it defeated Stony Brook 3-1 on November 6. The next hurdle was Haldane. The teams had met five times before and Shelter Island had failed to win so much as a game. In last year's regional championship, the Lady Indians celebrated because they forced Haldane (12-7) to call a timeout. A tight, three-game loss, two of which were by 25-23 counts, were cause for ear-to-ear grins on the bus ride home.

Kelsey McGayhey puts away the game-winning kill, allowing Shelter Island to prevail against perennial power Haldane in the Southeast Regional.

Now that the elusive victory has been achieved, senior co-captain Claire Read said they'll start with trying to win a game upstate – a feat they've yet to accomplish in two previous trips – and take it from there. "This team earned it," she said. "We all put our hearts into it. We all did it and we did it together. It's just so amazing."

As the crowd rose to their feet in game three with Shelter Island a point away from sweeping Haldane, the proud four-time defending Section I champs made one last stand, and it maintained it long enough to force a fourth game. The Lady Blue Devils trailed 24-20 when Liz Milner and Irina Impellittiere stuffed an SI attack. Another failed attack cut the deficit to two, and Milner rose and blocked a third swing to make it 24-23. Belt called timeout, but Haldane kept the momentum. An epic rally ended in Haldane's favor, and a Kristen DesMarais push directed toward the back corner landed to suddenly put Shelter Island behind. A point later, the comeback was complete.

The Lady Indians appeared out of synch early in game four with errant attacks and subpar serve receive. An innocent free ball bumped over by Haley Willumsen fired her side up as Shelter Island then were behind just 7-4. A McGayhey block and kill made it 7-6 and a well placed swing by Read leveled the score. The Lady Indians continued pressing forward and opened up margins of 12-9 and 15-12, but Haldane answered, eventually knotting the score at 18.

"In the fourth game, we were getting a little upset," Belt said. "We stopped communicating. There was a little discord on the court. We've done a really good job this season pulling it back together, and we relied on those strengths."

"I got a little nervous in the third game, but it was too early in the fourth to get nervous," Read added. "I knew that we could come back."

Lady Indians sophomore Stephanie Vecchio keeps a point alive by digging a Haldane attack.

Shelter Island, though, managed to keep its cool. A Mackenzie Needham slam followed a pair of Haldane errors, and Haley Willumsen caught the opponent napping, pushing one just in bounds for a 22-18 edge. Stephanie Vecchio's magnificent kill from the back line brought it to 23-19, Needham's ace brought SI to game point, and after a moderate rally, McGayhey's number was called one last time. Her 15th and final kill made it official: Shelter Island was going upstate.

Haldane looked poised to make an early statement in game one, opening up leads of 9-5 and 15-11. Two Vecchio blocks midway through ignited SI and when a Lady Blue Devil attack landed wide, SI had an 18-17 lead, its first since 2-1. Haldane answered with three straight to go back ahead, but that's when Read went to her other middle blocker, McGayhey. The sophomore recorded kills on three of the next four points, all of which went to SI, to put her team up 22-20. When Haldane held a game point at 24-23, McGayhey came up big again, blocking an attack to even up the score again. On SI's third game point, it finally came through as a Vecchio kill put them ahead 27-26 and Shelby Willumsen served the game out.

In addition to McGayhey's team-high 15 kills, Vecchio had 10 kills and eight blocks. Their emergence, particularly after the graduation of six seniors, has proven to give SI just the boost it needed in the hitting column.

"They're so much more dedicated to the sport than previous middles," Shelby Willumsen said of McGayhey and Vecchio. "They play with us outside of school and their hitting has improved tremendously. They're a great asset."

As if the match could have been any closer to that point, the second game featured 13 ties, the last of which came at 19-all. The Willumsen sisters – Haley and Shelby – each recorded aces down the stretch for SI, the latter putting her team up 23-20. Two long rallies ended up in the Lady Indians' favor and they stood just a game away from states. McGayhey again came up big, smashing three kills in succession to single-handedly erase Haldane's 14-11 lead and get Shelter Island on its way to a 2-0 edge in games.

Sealing the win came with a little more drama than expected, but nevertheless, Shelter Island prevailed and they'll now take their chances in Glens Falls.

"We won our league, we won our league but this has been a big old roadblock we have never gotten past before," Belt said. "We have had goals all year long. We just keep going down the checklist and now we are at the states."

Shelter Island knocked off Section I champ Haldane in four games to book the school's third trip to states.