College Park — It took six tries, but the Bel Air girls volleyball team will play for a Class 3A state championship.

The No. 8 Bobcats (17-2) overcame a 2-0 hole in sets to Huntingtown (15-3) on Wednesday night to win a five-set thriller at Ritchie Coliseum.

Bel Air won by scores of 16-25, 22-25, 25-17, 26-24 and 15-13.

The Bobcats will face top-ranked Atholton in Tuesday’s 3A state final at 8 p.m.

Serving issues were part of the Bobcats problems in those first two sets, but they never quit.

Maddie Reagan (15 kills, eight digs) led the comeback effort.

In the decisive fifth set, Bel Air fell behind, 11-8, but on Erin Kenney’s kill and Radhilka Patel’s two serves (one ace), the Bobcats pulled even at 11.

The Bobcats then trailed 13-12, before scoring three unanswered points to win.

“I’m very proud of my girls, it takes something special to be down 2-0 and have the grit an faith in each other that they can come back and win the next three,” Bel Air coach Elizabeth McCourt said. “I just couldn’t be prouder.”

The Bobcats got back in the match with the win in set three. Bel Air put together three, multi-point runs to get ahead and stay ahead.

Huntingtown called two timeouts trailing 10-8 and 16-11. Megan Hoy (nine kills, four aces, four digs) helped the Bobcats push a 17-13 lead to 23-14. The Bobcats closed out the set with kills from McKenna Reiswig (seven kills, five blocks) and Brooke Myers (eight kills, two blocks, two digs). The fourth set was back and forth. Big kills by Reagan late kept the Bobcats ahead and Reagan added a kill that put the Bobcats ahead, 25-24. The Bobcats won the next point to extend the match.