CARY - This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Cary Academy, but here the Chargers were: facing a familiar opponent in a familiar late round of the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association playoffs on Friday afternoon.

After sweeping conference rival Durham Academy in the state quarterfinals in their first playoff game on Friday, the Chargers ended their season at home in the NCISAA 3A semifinals with a 3-0 to powerhouse Charlotte Latin -- a team that had defeated CA in the state championship in the prior two seasons.

The loss to Latin ended the Chargers’ bid for a state title, but left coach Melanie Bryant proud of the run made by her young team, which replaced seven seniors from a year ago.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win our conference tournament,” Bryant said. “We felt like if we could do that, anything past that would be a bonus. Getting this far is an honor because there are some great teams in our state association.”

CA earned its semifinal date with Latin by sweeping Durham Academy in three games, winning 25-20, 25-19 and 25-22 to advance. The win over the Cavaliers made it two of three against DA after both teams successfully defended their home courts in the regular season match-ups.

With her team coming off a close loss in the last match against DA and well aware that defending state champ Charlotte Latin awaited the winner, Bryant knew a strong start would be crucial.

“We tried to focus on the Durham Academy game,” Bryant said. “We had a very hard time because we knew we had Charlotte Latin next, and that’s been the team we have lost to the past three years. Going into this, there were a little bit of nerves because we knew we had lost to (Durham Academy) before.”

Led by Moriah Smith, Kourtney Dworsky, Abby Larus and Abby Getz, the Chargers led for the entirety of game one against Durham Academy. The Cavaliers briefly cut CA’s lead to 21-20, but Cary Academy responded with four straight points to pull away and take the first game.

Cary Academy claimed game two in similar fashion, using a late 5-2 run to prevail 25-19.

Game three against the Cavaliers saw the Chargers fall behind 9-6 in the early going, and the Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference rivals were tied at 16 when Bryant called a rare timeout to adjust to the strength of DA’s blockers.

“Timeouts are very valuable to me so I don’t like to use them unless it’s an emergency,” Bryant said. “I want my girls to learn how to play under pressure and they’re very aware of what my policy is on calling timeouts. Our adjustment was to stop hitting into the block. Durham Academy is a great blocking team, so we wanted to place the ball as opposed to trying to power through it.”

The adjustment paid off for Cary Academy, which scored the decisive game’s final three points to eliminate Durham Academy and set up a rematch of the last two state championship matches.

The Chargers struggled in the semifinals and were swept by the state’s top-seeded Hawks.

Charlotte Latin was dominant from the start, taking game one 25-17. Continuing to capitalize on a decided advantage in size and power, the Hawks took game two 25-16. Latin completed the sweep with a 25-11 victory in game three.

Despite the one-sided loss to the Hawks, Bryant was extremely pleased with her team’s effort, especially considering preseason expectations.

“We never gave up,” Bryant said. “This was supposed to be our rebuilding year. I heard that over and over again. But we got so much further than that. Making it to the semifinals isn’t bad for a ‘rebuilding year’. You really can’t beat it.”