It figures when the top four seeds of a tournament advance to the semifinals, fans are likely in for a couple of great games. Such was the case Thursday night at Gilbert High in the Division I state boys volleyball tournament.

As it played out two rival schools from Gilbert -- Highland (28-6-1) and defending champ Gilbert High (28-6-1) -- advanced and will tussle Saturday May 11 at 7 p.m. at Gilbert High for the championship. No. 2 Highland came back from a set down to win a grueling, five-set match from No. 3 Mesa High, 19-25, 26-24, 25-21, 18-25, 15-10. Host and No. 4 seed Gilbert prevailed in four sets over top-seed Desert Vista, 25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 30-28.

It was redemption for both Highland and Gilbert, which lost twice each during the season to their Thursday semifinal foes. Highland lost to Gilbert in two power-point matches, 3-2 and 3-0. Desert Vista had beaten Gilbert in invitational tournaments, 2-1 and 2-0. Highland will be making its first title-game appearance since 2010 when it finished runner-up.

Highland coach Vee Hiapo watched her team claw back from a 1-0 deficit and win the tight second set. In the first set Highland was badly outhit by Mesa and endured massive serve problems, committing six service errors. The Hawks played some of their best volleyball in the third set to go up 2-1. When Mesa turned things around in the fourth set and won going away, Hiapo didn't like the momentum swing so she opted for change.

"We switched our lineup around for the last (set)," Hiapo said. "It's the lineup we won the tournament we played in Hawaii and the one we used to win the Brophy tournament."

It worked. Highland switched around hitters and never trailed in the decisive set. The Hawks bolted to a 6-3 lead, improved it to 11-5 before Mesa made a late run to pull withing 13-10. Jared Greene posted the last of his 10 kills and a Mesa hitting error closed out the two-hour match.

Four Highland players posted double figures in kills -- Ryan Morrison (18), Sean Chapman (12), Hayden Nielson (12) and Greene (10). Morrison, Greene and Chapman combined for eight kills in the final set. Mesa High (36-10-1), which was trying to reach the championship match for the first time in school history, was led by Michael Schaper with 16 kills.

"The biggest hurdle for this team was creating its own identity," Hiapo said. "It took some time, but they found that identity."

In the second semifinal of the night nearly two more hours of volleyball followed. Gilbert earned its chance at a repeat by winning three tough sets and came perilously close to having to go to fitve sets. Gilbert coach Jeff Grover, who declared himself a "proponent of being the underdog", liked the grit and determination from his team. He was concerned after his team lost a tough third set that made it 2-1 -- a set the Tigers had the chance to win and close out the match.

"I was proud of the guys responding at the end," Grover said. "We had the same thing against Brophy on Tuesday night when they came back and won the third game.... Desert Vista had our number the first two times we played. We made some changes with our serving, and they responded with changes to get back in it."

The fourth set was a nail-biter -- if anyone had nails left to trim. Gilbert led by four early only to have Desert Vista peck away and finally take a 20-18 lead. The set was tied eight times during the final 10 points. Desert Vista had set point three times and Gilbert match point three times. Jarrett Neal's block and middle blocker Nic Gibson's 15th kill provided the final two points to snap the 28-28 tieand send Gilbert to Saturday for a shot at a second title in as many years.

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