Northlake Christian School had an uphill task Saturday in its attempt to make it back-to-back state volleyball titles at the Pontchartrain Center.

The Lady Wolverines dropped the first two games and trailed 16-9 in the fourth game, but you can never under estimate the heart of a champion.

NCS proved that by coming all the way back to capture the final three contests in a 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-10 victory over Episcopal School of Acadiana to win its second consecutive Division V state championship.

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“It feels amazing. It’s almost like it’s not real, but just to do it two years in a row, it’s such an accomplishment,” said NCS’ Brittany Scearce, who had 24 kills and three blocks in the finals.

NCS’ Hannah Miranda was named Most Outstanding Player. She dished out 17 assists and posted eight kills. It was the second straight time Miranda has won the award.

“It’s such an honor. Two years in a row is so great. It pays off for a lot of hard work, but to me the MVP should go to the whole team. It’s such a team effort. I can’t even describe how it all came together, and we all played tough,” Miranda said.

The Lady Wolverines finish the season at 30-12.

In the first game, NCS got off to a rough start and trailed 17-10.

The Lady Wolverines fought their way back and caught the Lady Falcons at 19-19. From there it was a seesaw battle as the game was tied at 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22. Episcopal took a 24-22 lead. Northlake Christian took a timeout and held off game point once, but the Lady Falcons won, 25-23.

In the second game, NCS seemed to have rebounded from the loss and had a 7-4 advantage after a Monica Raymond kill. The Lady Falcons were able to put together a 5-1 spurt and took a 9-8 lead. Raymond came up with a dink shot to tie the contest at 9-9.

But Episcopal’s Blair Foster put down a kill, which began a 3-0 run, giving her team a 12-9 lead.

The Lady Wolverines, as they did throughout the match, continued to fight back and knotted the game at 16-16. After things were tied at 17-17, Episcopal outscored NCS 8-4 down the stretch, and the Lady Wolverines were in a precarious position being down by two games in the finals.

NCS coach Michelle Anderson talked about what she told her team after dropping the first two games.

“We’ve got nothing to lose, just go out and have fun. Play as hard as you can play, have fun and go for it,” Anderson said.

The third game was a tight battle most of the way. The Lady Wolverines trailed 9-8, but Raymond and Scearce went to work on a 6-1 run, which gave NCS a 14-10 advantage.

Raymond began with a dink, followed by a Scearce kill then dink. Raymond had back-to-back aces. Scearce capped the run with a kill.

Episcopal rallied back and trimmed the lead to 17-16, but NCS closed out the game with an 8-3 run and got back into the match with a 25-19 win.

Raymond said she felt the momentum swung to NCS’ side.

“Once we won the third game, we showed ESA that we were in it to win it,” Raymond said. “Once we won the third game, we were ready to take the rest of it.”

But in the fourth game things looked bleak for the Lady Wolverines, who fell behind, 16-9.

With every point vital for NCS, the Lady Wolverines chipped away at the deficit. Northlake Christian had it down to 18-17, but Episcopal then ran off three points in a row to make it 21-17.

Anderson called a timeout, then NCS scored five consecutive points to take a 22-21 lead. The Lady Falcons tied the contest at 22-22, but the Lady Wolverines tallied three of the last four to win it 25-23 and knot the match at two games apiece.

In the fifth game, the Lady Wolverines jumped out to an 8-4 advantage, but Episcopal cut it to 8-6.

But this game belonged to the Lady Wolverines as 8-6 would be the smallest lead they would have from that point. NCS wrapped up the game and the match and won its second consecutive state title with a 15-10 victory.

Raymond finished with 22 kills, while Hannah Miller pulled up 25 digs and Angela Barrios had five aces.

Episcopal’s Alyse Poppa tallied 34 assists, while Kelly Gambel recorded 34 digs and Taylor Hill had 16 digs to go with three aces. Foster ended up blocking seven shots.