MONROEVILLE - For the Butler boys volleyball team, seeing Hempfield this season has been like looking into a mirror.

Unfortunately, the results haven't been as identical.

On Monday, the Tornado boys volleyball team faced the Spartans, and by scoring three of the final four points of the night, it was Hempfield that came away with a 25-20, 22-25, 26-24, 22-25, 15-12 victory in the WPIAL quarterfinals at Gateway High School.

"The games were close. It just ended up that it went their way," said Butler coach Lew Liparulo.

"It came down to a few points. We made some key mistakes, but we made some great plays, too," Liparulo added.

"We played (Butler) at the Norwin and North Hills tournaments and the three times we played them every score was like 25-23," said Spartans coach John Howell.

"I knew we'd be in for a good match. Butler's a class act and they're a quality program," Howell added.

In that deciding fifth game, Butler did surge to an 8-5 lead, but the Spartans rallied to knot the game back at 8.

With the game tied at 10, Hempfield's Chris Irwin had one of his team-leading 17 kills to give his team a lead it wouldn't surrender.

A Butler shot out made it 12-10 before Butler's Ricky Gonzalez's kill pulled Butler back to within one.

Hempfield led 13-11 before Butler almost trimmed the deficit again. The Tornado's Devin Koehring had what appeared to be a clean spike, but the referee ruled his hand touched the net and the point was awarded to Hempfield for a 14-11 score.

Butler (13-5) had to battle back twice after dropping the first and third sets.

Butler scored the first point of the night, but the Spartans (10-5) reeled off nine consecutive points.

Still, after trailing 13-3, Butler went on a 15-4 run - highlighted by Gonzalez's four service points and Zack Wilms' five - to take an 18-17 lead.

Butler trailed 21-20 before the Spartans tallied the final four points to close out the game.

In the second game, Butler didn't allow itself to fall into a deep hole and the game saw 11 ties along the way before a Hempfield shot went long and Butler's Chris Falbo tapped the ball over the net for the winning points.

In the third game, Butler led 22-20 before Hempfield fired back with a four-point spurt to take a two-point lead. Butler countered with the next two points, the latter a shot out by Hempfield, to knot the game at 24.

Butler's Shawn Vincent's serve hit the net and then the Tornado couldn't get a shot off a Hempfield serve to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead.

The see-saw battle continued in the fourth game. With the score tied at 12, Butler had four straight points on kills, including three from Gonzalez, who finished with 21.

"We knew they had two good swingers in Ricky and (Chris Erdos)," said Howell. "We knew we could counter with Irwin."

But the Spartans responded with the next five points for a 17-16 lead.

With the score tied at 21, Butler had four of the final five points to force a fifth game.

"I knew it was going to be like that," said Liparulo. "We've won games like that."

"I was proud of our kids," said Howell. "Every time we'd bend, but we would never break."

For the Tornado, the season comes to a close, but not without the team winning its first two playoff games in the program's history and posting the most wins (13) in a season.

"These gentlemen have set a high standard on our team. I have nothing but high praise for these kids. They never quit and they always worked hard," Liparulo said.

Erdos led Butler with 15 service points, Falbo had seven blocks, Wilms 24 passes and Garrett Rettig added 13.

Along with Irwin's 17 kills, Drew Dvorsky added 11 kills and John Magnuson 10. Corey Stephens led the Spartans with 19 service points.