Pine Creek needed a full game to shake off the rust left over from a two-week layoff.

But when the Eagles’ trio of big hitters started firing on all cylinders, Pikes Peak No. 1 teams Pine Creek and Doherty put on a supercharged display of volleyball Friday night in front of an electric crowd of more than 550 that ended appropriately in a back-and-forth fifth game.

As heartbeats began to slow, the Eagles celebrated a 15-25, 25-17, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12 victory and their second straight 5A Metro League championship.

But they sure took the hard road getting there.

Host Doherty (14-5, 4-1) won the first game handily as Pine Creek (16-3, 5-0) struggled to find a rhythm, pushing eight hits either into the net or out of bounds.

“It was definitely hard to get back in the swing of things and play high-level volleyball,” Pine Creek senior outside hitter Nikki Glass said.

The Eagles fought back to win Games 2 and 3 behind the hitting of Glass, who led the Eagles with 20 kills, Lindsay Weaver (16 kills) and the all-around net play from Katherine Feldman (eight kills, six blocks).

“Our defense was pretty good,” said Doherty senior libero Lauren Tekavec, who had 22 digs. “We had really good blocking, and they had a lot of good blocking too. They just kept swinging.”

Sophomore Cierra Simpson and senior Kaitlyn Qualls combined for six kills and six blocks as Doherty took back the momentum to win Game 4.

In the fifth set, Doherty jumped out to a 7-4 lead behind senior outside hitter Taylor Simpson, who finished with a game-high 21 kills.

But five unforced errors by the Spartans helped Pine Creek take a 10-9 lead — the Eagles’ first lead since winning the third game.

From there, Pine Creek finished off the match with a kill by Feldman and four more Doherty unforced errors.

“They consistently put the ball in the court, where we had really great moments of awesomeness and then moments where we fell apart,” Tekavec said. “We just needed to be more consistent.”

Pine Creek’s Simmone Collins, left, and Lindsay Weaver blocked a shot by Doherty’s Cierra Simpson in Friday night’s 5A Metro volleyball match at Doherty. Pine Creek won to capture its second straight 5A Metro League title. Photo by CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE