KINSMAN — Much like a puzzle, a team has a multitude of pieces. And much like a puzzle, a team can only fit together one way. Each match, every player has to fit exactly into her place, or the picture just isn’t right.

For the SS. John and Paul volleyball team, a piece was missing from the puzzle. It resulted in a 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-11 loss to Newbury in a Division IV district semifinal at Badger High School.

“We needed to all play together awesome at one time,” SJP senior outside hitter Carly Penna said. “It’s like a puzzle. If one piece doesn’t fit or doesn’t work, you can’t force it or push it in really hard. It just doesn’t work.”

The top-seeded Black Knights (19-4) will play third-seeded Windham (a 27-25, 10-25, 25-18, 25-21 winner over Kirtland) for the district championship Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

The Heralds (16-9) opened the match with an 8-2 hole in the first game following an ace tip, ace spike and ace block by Newbury’s Danielle Day and an ace spike from Hanna Wiley.

“(Falling behind early) has always been our problem,,” SJP coach Brandy Orlando said. “ It’s been our goal the last two matches (to not fall behind). We can’t let teams get a run of four or five points in a row.”

Following an ace tip from Day and an ace spike from Jessica Garland, the Black Knights led, 19-10. Newbury held that advantage through to the end.

“We seemed a little off,” SJP senior setter Kristina Krumins said. “We fixed in the third game, or at least we tried to fix it. Some people were off every game. People would get better and other people were off. We tried to keep pushing.”

The second game started off much the same for the Heralds. Wiley had two ace tips and an ace block, Day had an ace spike and an ace block and Katie Barton had an ace spike as the Black Knights raced out to a 9-2 lead.

“We were a step off,” Orlando said. “Our serve receive was off — our passing was off. When the passing is off, you can’t have an offense.

“(The Black Knights) were scrappy. They got to a lot. Nothing gets down against them. They were a good serving team, but we knew that.”

“Any time you enter a tournament where it’s win and you’re done, there’s a certain amount of pressure,” Newbury coach Carla Richardson said. “We play a quick game. When our style is quicker, we’re better — as long as we’re in control and playing quick, good things happen.”

The Heralds started to get back in the game behind an ace spike each from Jennifer Kapalin and Penna, coupled with a hitting error by the Black Knights to get back to within three at 14-11.

Ace spikes from Kapalin, Penna and Fedler and an ace serve from Kapalin had the Heralds within one, 16-15. After falling behind 20-17, a hitting error by Newbury and an ace spike from Kapalin cut the deficit to 20-19, but Newbury was able to close out the game.

“We’re experienced,” Richardson said. “We’ve been in this situation before. We know it’s not over until the scoreboard says 25.”

The pieces fell into place for the Heralds in the third game.

“When the pressure’s on, they play well, like in the third game,” Orlando said. “They’re better under pressure. They know they have to put it on the line. They know what has to be done.”

Two ace spikes from Fedler (8 points, 25-of-31 spiking, 6 aces, 24-of-45 blocking, 21-of-31 passing), an ace spike and an ace block from Kapalin (3 points, 34-of-39 spiking with seven aces, 30-43 blocking), an ace tip from Penna (3 points, 24-of-27 spiking, 4 aces, 15-of-23 blocking, 39-of-45 passing) and an ace spike from Sara Blank staked SJP to a 10-2 lead to open game three.

“We never give up,” Krumins said. “We never say die. It hit us in the third game that we had to win. This was one of those times we wanted to make sure it didn’t end.”

“We knew it was do-or-die,” Penna said. “We had no mercy. We gave all we had to give. We were awesome in the third game.”

Three ace spikes, two ace tips and an ace block from Day coupled with a pair of ace spikes from Barton, got the Black Knights to within four at 15-11. A pair of ace spikes from Wiley and a pair hitting errors by SJP cut the advantage to 17-16. The teams traded points until the Heralds held a 22-21 advantage.

But Kapalin tallied an ace block and an ace spike to go with a Newbury hitting error to end the end game.

After playing even, 3-3, through the first six points, the roof caved in on the Heralds in the fourth game. Newbury scored seven of the next eight points on SJP hitting errors. The Heralds never recovered.