By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

Both Central Falls High and Shea High didn’t supply their ‘A’ or ‘B’ games in the second and third sets of their respective Division III semifinal-round series on Tuesday night, but that didn’t prevent either squad from getting the job done and setting the stage for an all-Blackstone Valley championship match.
The Warriors were the first team to punch their tickets to the finals, as they added another 3-0 victory to their perfect season by rolling past Our Lady of Fatima High on their home floor in a matchup that took 55 minutes to complete.
The Warriors, who won the match by scores of 25-8, 25-18, 25-18, upped their Division III record to 16-0 and have captured all 48 sets they have played in. They will make their sixth trip to the finals this decade and pursue their fifth Division III championship in their 22-year existence.
A few miles away at Shea’s gym, the Raiders were putting the finishing touches on a 3-1 triumph over defending state champion Middletown High that earned them their first trip to the finals since their magical championship season two years ago.
The Raiders, who raised their record to 12-4, defeated the Islanders for the fourth straight time this season, doing so by scores of 25-9, 25-19, 18-25, and 25-13.

While the Warriors may be looked upon as the favorites to capture Saturday’s 1 p.m. title match at URI’s Keaney Gymnasium, they will be playing a team that has given them the most fits during the season. Only five times in their 48 sets had an opposing club produce 20 or more points against the Warriors, and the Raiders did it three times.
“I told the girls that anything is possible,” said CF coach Richard Sousa. “The way I look at it, anybody can beat anybody on any given day, so they’re going to have to play well, and if they play well on Saturday, they’re going to win.”
“Central Falls has been tough all year,” said Shea coach Chris Daily. “It should be a good game. We played them tight during the (regular) season, and hopefully we’ll come ready to play and we’ll see what happens.”
Not only do the Warriors want to cap a perfect campaign with a state crown, but they also want to erase the sting of last season’s loss in the finals to Middletown. Last year, CF was 14-2 and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, but the Islanders stunned the Warriors in the title match by a 3-1 score.
“Since Aug. 18, we’ve been talking about that finals match,” said Sousa. “We wanted to get back there and we wanted to finish it. We were the No.1 seed last year and we didn’t finish it. This year, that’s all we’ve been talking about – to just finish the season.
“I hope that we come together and finally finish it off,” offered CF senior co-captain and outside hitter Valarie Biascochea. “Last year, it seemed like we didn’t have as much heart as we do now, so we definitely have a chance to finish it.”
The Warriors had their share of troubles finishing off the Tigers (6-10) after cruising to a first-set victory that saw them storm out to a 16-3 command and ended up taking just 12 minutes to complete.
In the second set, the Warriors were again clicking on all cylinders as they rolled out to a 9-1 cushion, but Biascochea ended up leaving the game after aggravating an injury to her right index finger that she hurt during warm-ups.
While Biascochea was on the sidelines getting some medical attention, the Tigers quietly got back into the game by scoring six of the next seven points and soon cutting CF’s lead to 14-11.
Biascochea eventually returned to action and helped the Warriors hold off the Tigers until they sewed up the game by rattling off four of the final five points.
The third game was a back-and-forth battle between the two squads, who traded the lead frequently and turned in some strong plays on their ends of the court. But with the score knotted at 18-18, the Warriors rattled off the match’s final seven points behind the solid service of Natalia Szulc and a contest-ending kill by Alba Vargas. 
“They were so focused in the first game,” added Sousa. “They started out strong. Their passing was perfect and they played great, but in that second game, they lost their focus and you really can’t do that. I told them they could have easily lost that game as well as the third, and each match, they have to start strong and finish strong.
“I’m happy with the win, but if you play like that in a finals game, you’re going to lose
and they know that. I wasn’t happy at all with the second game and the third game, but a win’s a win and I’ll take anything in the playoffs.”
Biascochea, who finished the season with over 150 kills, endured an off-night with just seven. Junior middle hitter Sakira Wilson had six, and junior hitters Maria Budzyna and Vargas each added four. Vargas also had the kill of the night early in the third set with a blistering spike from the outside that nearly took off the head of an OLOF player.     
“Val hurt her finger in warm-ups and had an off-night, but my other outside hitter had a big day,” Sousa said of Vargas. “She was hitting strong and her serving and passing was great. She stepped up and did it all.”
The Raiders, like the Tigers, made things look easy in the first set of their battle with the Islanders, but in the second set, they had their problems with their visitors and were only able to squeak out a six-point victory.
But the Islanders, sparked by the play of co-captains Alison Buck and Sarah Skelly, led throughout the third set, taking early leads of 5-3 and 8-5 and snapping a 9-9 draw with a 12-6 run midway through the set that gave them a 21-15 cushion and control of the set.
“We played awesome in the first game,” added Daily. “I thought we really came to play and were going to sweep them, but then we just sort of fell apart. We just tried to regroup and refocus and get ourselves back into the game.”
The fourth set turned into a battle between both teams, but with the score tied at 7-7, the Raiders rolled off 12 straight points behind a pair of aces from co-captain Alyson Catalon and a pair of kills and an ace from Bella Koudriautseva. The Islanders (8-8) tried to rally back with the next five points, but that was as close as they got to the Raiders.   
While Daily was happy with the win, she was pleased with the play of her two setters, co-captain Taylor Gomes and Koudriautseva, and southpaw outside hitter Amber Charette, who finished her night with 11 kills.
“I thought we played well,” said Daily. “We took a couple of days off this week and got some rest, and tonight, we did a very good job. We had our moments of letdown, but we pulled it off.”