Colchester — Griswold had finally put itself in position to win a game against Coventry on Tuesday night.

Coventry seniors Ruby St. Onge and junior Charlotte Jordan took the Wolverines’ chance away with a one-two punch.

St. Onge and Jordan each made a sensational defensive play to keep separate rallies going that led to points in the final game of the eighth-seeded Patriots’ 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 win over the No. 12 Wolverines at Dave Shea Gymnasium.

Griswold finishes the season 15-9.

“Their defense was really good,” Wolverines head coach James Bruno said about Coventry. “We didn’t attack the ball as well as we needed to which made it easier on their defense.”

Coventry (19-7) will play third-seeded Lyman Memorial, another Eastern Connecticut Conference team, in Saturday’s final at East Haven at a time to be announced.

The Bulldogs swept No. 2 Granby in its semifinal 28-26, 25-21, 25-23. It will be the fourth time since 2015 that they will play Coventry in the Class S final.

Griswold led Game 3, 20-18, with the serve when St. Onge splattered onto the floor to save a ball from hitting the floor to continue the rally. Senior Emma Topliff would later hit a kill to force sideout and give Coventry the serve.

“I just love the sport and I want to win,” St. Onge said. “I know my team wants to win more than anything and I just do it for them.”

A Wolverines error tied the match at 20. It looked like they were going to regain the lead and the serve when their attack caused a ball to get away Patriots’ defense and head towards the back wall.

Jordan managed to track the ball down at the wall and dug it high and far enough that it traveled back over the net. Griswold made an error moments later to give Coventry the lead for good, 21-20.

“I don’t know how in the heck we got those balls over, either one of them,” Patriots head coach Ryan Gilberson said. “That’s an unbelievable effort for our kids to make those plays.”

Bruno said, “Those were big. Those were tough momentum breakers there. We had a good attack and they (made) great plays.”

Jordan had 23 assists for Coventry. St. Onge, a 5-foot-4 outside hitter, had 13 kills and Topliff added seven.

Junior Kuranda Ruggiero had 13 digs, 10 assists and three kills for the Wolverines and senior Sonja Matheson had 15 digs and four kills. Classmate Hailey Eliasson added 13 digs.

Griswold was unable to get any sustained offense in the first two games. The majority of their points were the result of Patriots’ errors.

Bruno changed the rotation in the third game to both give Coventry a different look and mix up the Wolverines’ attack. They played their best in that game and took their largest lead of the match, 18-13.

“I tried to get my girls to get their momentum up,” Matheson said. “Fight hard, and we fought hard to the end in my mind.”

Griswold will return the bulk of its starters as it used two juniors, a sophomore, and two freshmen.

“It was an interesting year,” Bruno said. “We grew a lot. There’s no doubt in my mind. I moved so many girls up from JV throughout the season. We had some different injuries and weird things along the way, but the girls really progressed a lot and got a lot better.

“The start of the season, if you asked if we were going to make it to the state semis, I would’ve said no way. There’s no way. We should be a decent team but there’s no way we’d be as good as we were.”

n.griffen@theday.com