UPPER ST. CLAIR — The Butler boys volleyball team searched and searched, but by the time it found its identity, it was too late.

The sluggish start was enough to allow Canon-McMillan to pick up steam and overpower the Golden Tornado in the teams’ first-round WPIAL Class 3A playoff matchup at Upper St. Clair High School Tuesday night.

The Big Macs dispatched Butler in consecutive sets; the scores being 25-16, 25-18, and 29-27.

“We just were out of sync,” Golden Tornado coach Lew Liparulo said. “We were completely out of sync. We didn’t serve receive, we made a lot of mental mistakes and put ourselves behind the eight ball.”

From the outset, No. 8 seed Canon-McMillan (14-3) had a stranglehold. Butler’s returns went wayward. A handful of serves were too far.

Liparulo’s side fell into a hole early in the initial set as a result and couldn’t put together multiple points until it was down by eight.

Big Mac sophomore Luke Bockius closed out the opening game with a kill before helping overtake Butler in the next.

“We definitely took advantage of the momentum at the beginning,” Canon-McMillan coach Sheila Mitchell said. “After every game, though, I told them, ‘That’s over, and now we have to play another game.’”

The Golden Tornado clung to a 7-3 advantage in the second set, then Canon-McMillan scored five of the next six points to knot it at eight. Soon after, Bockius notched two aces in a stretch that broke it open.

“I think there was a point where we didn’t get into the flow,” Liparulo said. “Nothing was smooth, nothing was transition-less. It’s not the way we played most of the season.

“They (Canon-McMillan) hit the ball very well,” Liparulo said. “We helped their offense.”

In a back-and-forth third set, No. 9 seed Butler extended its season by a few more serves. It was the Big Macs’ defense and effective swings that prevailed, however.

“I’m very proud,” Liparulo said. “They could’ve bailed. They could’ve quit any time and they didn’t. They came out hard and continued. They still made a few mistakes, but they played.”

Golden Tornado senior Kaleb Proudfoot gave his crew a 25-24 lead after tipping a ball over the top of the net, but the Big Macs answered. With that, Butler whiffed on its last chance to stretch the match to four sets.

“It was good to see them (Big Macs) not lose their momentum (and) not lose their fight,” Mitchell said. “We had some kids that might not have been swinging as well all season who had their best game in that third game.”

Senior Luke Fincham and junior Owen Ostroski, both outside hitters, were the two players Mitchell lauded in particular. It was that duo that recorded consecutive kills to send the Golden Tornado packing.

Cam Ray had 17 assists in the defeat, while Coleton Welter had eight kills and nine digs.

Canon-McMillan’s prize will be a rematch on Thursday with top-seeded Seneca Valley (15-1), its only non-league loss during the regular season.

“We battled them and we can hang, so I’m excited,” Mitchell said about the quarterfinal showdown.