The 2021 volleyball season was historic for River Bluff High School.

The Lady Gators set a school record for victories (30) and made their firstever Class 5A title match appearance as Lower State champion this past Thursday at Dreher High School against Dorman.

A large contingent of students filled the gymnasium hoping to see another River Bluff team upend a perennial champion from the Roebuck school this year.

While the Lady Gators succeeded in handing the Lady Cavaliers their first losing set of the postseason, they ended up losing the match in four sets.

Much like the Lower State final against Wando, River Bluff dropped the first set 25-15. It then rebounded to win the second set 25-23.

The Lady Gators looked to carry over the momentum in the third set. After trailing 7-2, they scored seven straight points to take a 9-7 lead.

The senior-laden Lady Cavaliers regrouped following the timeout and scored 11 of the next 12 points to go up 18-12. Dorman took the third set 25-20 and, despite River Bluff holding off three match points, won the fourth set 25-17 to claim it’s 14th state title for coaching legend Paula Kirkland.

Afterwards, head coach Bryan Piro took solace in having a roster dominated by rising underclassmen who will learn from this experience.

“We’ve done a lot of first for River Bluff volleyball in our program and they know we’re coming back,” Piro said. “This is going to come with more experience being at this stage and at this level,” he said. “The majority of our team is coming back next year, so we’re going to be okay.”