LINCOLN - There was no quit in the Pierce Bluejays on Wednesday afternoon's first round battle with Milford at the Class C1 State tournament in Lincoln.

Coming into the match, Pierce was rated as the #2 seed, while Milford held the #7 seed.

After taking a competitive opening set 25-23, the Bluejays found themselves stuck in a rut, searching for answers.

The Pierce offense, led by sophomore Nora Herian, Claudia Riggert and Abbie Cone continued to click early in the second set, but Milford started to swing the momentum.

The Eagle's freshman outside hitter, Shayla Rautenberg, woke up the offense in the middle portion of set two, connecting on most of her swings.

Milford took the second set 25-20 and carried the momentum into the third set, with Rautenberg continuing to dominate on the offensive end.

The Eagles defeated the Bluejays 25-20 in the third set and held all the momentum into set four.

Milford and Pierce traded shots back and forth, but the Eagles had a narrow two-point advantage until Pierce's Abbie Cone lit a spark. Cone was the go-to attack option late in the fourth set and helped the Bluejays to a 25-21 victory.

In the fifth set, Milford got on a run to lead 12-6. 

After a timeout, Pierce began to find a lot of success in the serve/receive and got all three of Herian, Cone and Riggert involved to tie things up at 13.

The Bluejays won the next two points to stun the Eagles and steal the match 3-2.

Pierce was led by Nora Herian, notching 27 kills, while Abbie Cone tallied 18 and Claudia Riggert finished with 11.

Milford was led by the dominant freshman Shayla Rautenberg, totaling 28 kills along with 3 blocks. Fellow freshman Brooklyn Muller had 6 kills for the Eagles.

With the win, #2 Pierce is slated to battle the #3 Wahoo Warriors on Friday at 3 pm.

#2 Pierce defeats #7 Milford (25-23, 20-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-13)