CEDAR RAPIDS - Members of the Tripoli volleyball team were light on their feet as they stormed center court for a celebratory dog pile following an improbable fifth-set comeback Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

For this year's squad, a huge weight was lifted off their shoulders.

Three years removed from its last championship, Class 1A's top prize will be returning to Tripoli.

Behind a stingy defense and fluid passing, the Panthers neutralized No. 4 AGWSR's potent attack and overcame a two-set deficit for a 21-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 15-7 championship victory.

"We worked hard the whole season," said middle blocker Megan Gilbert, who finished with a team-high 16 kills and six blocks. "We knew we could do it, and we did it."

The freshman received plenty of support during the memorable win. Outside hitter Kalie Kirchhoff joined her on the all-tournament team and finished with 13 kills and 29 digs. Libero Morgan Peters and Natalie Figanbaum added 20 digs each.

In many ways, Tripoli's state championship match was a microcosm of its season - recovering from a slow start and coming together to exceed expectations.

"I just got to be the guy that went along with them and helped them out," Tripoli head coach Will Bauman said after winning his first championship and the school's seventh. "So many people counted them out. It means so much for me to have them with the championship. It makes everything worth it."

The Panthers have their serve receive to thank.

In the decisive fifth set, Tripoli converted all seven sideout opportunities. A solo block by Gilbert capped a four-point Peters service run for the team's first match point. Following a passing error, the Panthers' final sideout conversion came on an errant AGWSR serve.

"We focused on being smart with the ball and not letting anything go out of bounds," Peters said addressing her team's goal in the decisive set. "We just focused on keeping it in and having them make the mistakes."

Early on, AGWSR looked like it was going to coast to a title.

All-tournament team captain Macy Ubben powered the Cougars with the majority of her match-high 25 kills in the first two sets. Fellow all-tournament selection Cassidy Ringena added nine kills and 21 digs for AGWSR, which never trailed until set three.

"Halfway through that third game, (Tripoli) started executing our game plan," AGWSR head coach Adam Bosch said. "They were really forcing our passers to have to move a lot more than usual, and it made it easier for their defense to get set up.

"They're just such a great defensive team. They know what to do once they get down here, and it just happened to be their night."

After game two, Bauman was just hoping his team would make it look respectable.

"I told them it's not about the championship right now, it's certainly about game three," he said. "We missed some blocking assignments, and you can't do that against a monster squad like that. We weren't really playing our defense, and they totally capitalized on us. It came down to execution."

After reaching the finals in the school's first trip to state, AGWSR's coach says good-bye to five senior starters who put his program on the map.

"I could never say enough about them," Bosch said. "They're the reason we got here in the first place, and they're the first class that can say we got to the state tournament."

Armed with a talented sophomore-to-be, and losing just two seniors to graduation, Tripoli may be primed to start another title run.

Contact Nick Petaros at (319) 291-1428 or nick.petaros@wcfcourier.com.