After East Chapel Hill ended Green Hope’s volleyball season in the third round of the state playoffs, 3-0, Thursday there were no tears, no sobbing, no inconsolable grief.

Instead, for the Falcon’s two senior volleyball players, there were thank yous, hugs, congratulations and smiles.

“It is bittersweet,” senior Lauren Sammis said.

“I feel like we went out on a good note,” senior Brandi Kearns said.

Even though the Wildcats dominated much of the match, the Falcons didn’t get overrun and lost by scores of 25-20, 25-19, 25-21. And in all three games, Green Hope fought back to make it close after trailing.

“We were definitely really scrappy,” Kearns said.

The Falcons found themselves down 22-16 in the first game before they battled back to make it 23-20. But two bad hits by Green Hope gave the game, and the momentum, to East Chapel Hill. Both teams traded points at the start of the second game and it was tied at 5, 10 and 14. The Wildcats then got three straight points to build a comfortable 17-14 lead. The Falcons got within two, but no closer, thanks to East Chapel Hill’s blocking and a couple of Charlotte Harris kills. The Green Hope players said it was the strongest hitting they had seen all season.

“I think we played really well,” East Chapel Hill coach Michelle Wood said. “Our passes were there. I thought our front row hitters did a great job hitting, finding the floor and then they blocked when we needed to.”

In the third game it was Green Hope that jumped to a 6-2 lead and East Chapel Hill that battled back to tie the game at 13-13. As in the previous games, the Wildcats blocking and timely kills proved to be just too much for the Falcons as they took a 17-14 lead.

But Green Hope wouldn’t go quietly.

Down 23-17, the Falcons fought back and cut the lead to 23-21 on a huge kill by Lindsey O’Connell — the last point scored by Green Hope.

“We didn’t give up once the entire time,” Sammis said. “I think the entire time we played strong. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh we’re so down we shouldn’t even try, let’s just let them clobber us.’ We kept fighting to the end.”

Green Hope coach George Tsai said he was very proud of his team but said “they just didn’t have enough” to beat the Wildcats. He said fatigue played a little role since his team had a five-game victory against Fayetteville Sanford High two days earlier.

“Our defense was awesome,” Tsai said. “Serve-receive was awesome and hitting was good.”

Despite the loss, the seniors said they are proud of what they accomplished this year — second in the Tri-Eight and an 18-5 overall record — and will not use the last game of the year as a measuring stick for their season. “We had a really good season so this doesn’t necessarily define our season,” Kearns said.