EAU CLAIRE — Coming off a come-from-behind victory over Watervliet in Monday’s Class C volleyball district opener, Cassopolis looked to avenge a five set BCS Athletic Conference loss to Brandywine earlier this year.

And the Rangers did just that.

After losing the first set 25-17, Cassopolis won the next three sets 25-20, 25-13 and 25-23 to advance to tonight’s district championship match at 7 p.m. against Bridgman, another team it has as score to settle with.

“There isn’t even a volleyball banner in our gym,” first-year Cassopolis coach Demi Schrader said. “So this is the chance to make a little bit of history.”

With a spot in the Thursday’s championship on the line, both teams came out on fire matching point for point.

Suddenly, Brandywine surged to a 14-10 lead, which caused Schrader to call a timeout to cool off the Brandywine offense.

The timeout only fueled Brandywine, which increased its lead to 19-10 with some solid kills from seniors Sydney Carlson and Olivia DePriest.

A missed Brandywine serve finally gave the Rangers the opportunity to go on a run of their own, cutting the lead to 19-14.

But the Bobcats weren’t phased, scoring the six of the last nine points to win the set 25-17.  Carlson got the winning kill for Brandywine.

Miscues and over hit serves gave Cassopolis the quick start it needed to get back into the match at 6-2 before Brandywine coach Carrie Bidwell called a timeout.

Slowly, the Bobcats clawed their way back to tie the set at 14-14. From there the set was tied at of 15, 17 and 18, until excellent serving from Cassopolis junior Jami Suseland helped build the lead to 21-18.

A Brandywine timeout to change the pace of the match didn’t help as Cassopolis won the second set 25-20.

With both teams owning a win, a best-of-three would decide which team would move on to face the Bees.

Some well-placed kills by senior Alley Anderson and junior Madison Cutting gave the Rangers a demanding 15-8 advantage to open the third set.

Two key blocks from freshman Maile Barber gave the Rangers the momentum they needed to dominate the third set 25-13.

Looking to bounce back in the fourth set, Brandywine managed to keep Cassopolis within reach early. Suddenly, Cassopolis jumped out to a 10-5 lead only to have Brandywine quickly cut the lead to 10-8.

In an attempt to stop any momentum going the Bobcat’s way, Schrader called a timeout.

Doing everything it could to tie the set up, Brandywine was unable to cut into the consistent three point lead the Rangers had them.

“Our offense wasn’t there tonight,” Bidwell said. “We had a good defense tonight, but we needed the offense to pull through. Cassopolis is scrappy and the girls knew that coming in we had to give it back to them and we didn’t.”

With the score at 23-21, Bidwell called a timeout prior to DePriest serving. She was able to cut the lead to 24-23, but it wasn’t enough as Cassopolis went on to take win the match.

“The difference tonight was our energy and excitement,” Schrader said. “This game meant a little bit more than when we played them during the season. We came out fire up, ready to work hard and not giving up.”

Schrader knows that tonight’s match will be as tough as the first two her team has played so far.

“We played Bridgman twice this year and lost both times,” Schrader said. “We are going to have to communicate on the court, hustle, not give up, be smart and place the ball where they (Bridgman) aren’t.”