The Schreiber girls tennis team had accomplished several of its goals this fall, but came up just one win short of the ultimate accomplishment for any New York team: a state title.

After winning the Nassau County and Long Island championships last week, the Vikings advanced to the state team semifinals Friday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, capturing a semifinal win but falling in the title match.

In only the state team championships’ second year, Schreiber defeated Clarence, from Buffalo, 6-1, in the state semifinal to advance to the championship match against defending champ Scarsdale later Friday afternoon.

But the Vikings ran into a very powerful, undefeated opponent and could not clear the last hurdle, as Scarsdale lost only two sets in seven matches to claim a 7-0 win and the championship.

Still, it was one heck of a fall season for Schreiber.

“They were a little deeper and a little better than us today, but we have our heads up,” said Schreiber head coach Shane Helfner. “We battled, we had some close matches, but we came up just a little short.”

Neither Helfner, nor the team, expected to go this far considering the tough matches this season, including the Vikings losing three of the last four this year.

But Helfner reached back for a classic quote from the movie “A League of Their Own” to describe the joy of this journey.

“We had to fight and we had to grind, much different than in 2019 when we dominated (and won the Long Island championship,” he said. “This was hard, and like in the movie, when Jimmy said it, ‘the hard is what makes it great.’ And this was a great year for us.”

The goal all season, the Schreiber players said, was to win the Nassau title. The hurdle that is Syosset had been there for three years, and senior Katie Kors said the team was tired of running into it and having it block the path.

Schreiber had advanced to the Nassau County team finals each of the last two years, and each time fall short against traditional power Syosset.

No matter what happened in the regular season, as the rivals traded wins over each other, at the ultimate pressure stage the Braves would top the Vikings.

“It was something we talked about from the start of the season, finally beating them,” Kors said this week. “We seniors wanted it really really bad.”

On Oct. 25 at Eisenhower Park, the Vikings broke through.

Trailing 3-1 in the best of seven match, Schreiber came back and won the final three matches, with eighth-grader Evie Loewy providing the winning margin at third singles, scoring a 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 triumph.

“I knew once everyone came over to (my court) and watching, that it must be tied,” Loewy said. “And then when I won, everyone ran on the court and was screaming and hugging me.”

“That was beautiful, what she did and how poised she was,” said senior Dasha Perfiliev. “She doesn’t play like an 8th-grader.”

The screaming and hugging didn’t stop there for Schreiber, which went 12-5 in team matches this season.

Fresh off winning the Nassau crown, the Vikings crushed Suffolk champ Harborfields on Nov. 1, 6-1, to advance to the Division I state team championships that were played Friday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

It hasn’t been a dominant season for Schreiber, with five losses, but the team has gelled at the right time. With a mix of eight seniors and two eighth graders among 20 players on the roster (Loewy, who was on the team last year as well, and Christiana Kent, who plays third doubles are the middle-schoolers), Schreiber’s chemistry has been perfect.

Once again this season two outstanding seniors at the top of the lineup have led the way: No. 1 singles player Perfiliev, headed to play college tennis at Stony Brook, and No. 2 Ellie Ross, have set the pace.

Perfiliev and Ross have had quite the wild swing of emotions the past 10 days: After helping win the Nassau title, the two good friends went to Schenectady to try to defend their state doubles championship they won in 2021.

On Oct. 30 Perfiliev and Ross reached the championship match against Byram Hills and snared the first set, but couldn’t quite repeat and lost in a three-set thriller.

“We definitely felt some pressure as defending champs, and it was hard to come so close to winning again and not be able to do it,” Perfiliev said. “It’s tough knowing we’ll never play together again.”