The third time was the charm for the St. Patrick-St. Vincent High girls varsity volleyball team.

The Lady Bruins, who were swept by Albany in two meetings during the regular season, put together one of their best matches of the year Tuesday night and beat the host Lady Cougars, 22-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-13, to reach tonight’s Tri-County Athletic League championship match at top-seeded St. Mary’s.

“It feels really good,” said SPSV senior Candice Turk, who had seven kills and one block in the victory. “When we lost that first set, it made me really want to play harder and win that next set. We had to keep fighting. We finally had high intensity the entire game. We played good defense and our serves really helped us out.”

Makahla Bolko, recently recovered from an eye injury, had 11 kills, 21 digs and three aces to lead the Lady Bruins (23-11). Caroline Gallagher added 11 kills and 18 digs, Nikki Lumauod had 22 assists, nine kills, seven digs and three aces, and Shaina Snyder had 18 digs.

It’s the third straight TCAL finals appearance for the Lady Bruins, who lost the title to St. Joe’s in 2014 and Albany in 2015. SPSV and St. Mary’s (13-9) split their two meetings during the regular season, each team winning at home in five sets.

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