Saugus girls volleyball looked like it was on its way to a big comeback Tuesday night against the eight-time defending Foothill League champions.

But the late charge against Valencia fell short, and the Vikings took a big step toward a ninth straight title with a 3-1 win at Valencia High School.

The Centurions lost their first two games, but fired back by winning the third and forcing Valencia to score 31 points to beat them in the fourth and deciding game. Valencia won with scores of 25-16, 25-18, 21-25 and 31-29.

"We were in the mindset, ‘We can't lose this game,'" said Valencia setter Carly Carapella, who had a match-high 38 assists.

The win moved the Vikings (13-10, 6-1) into first place by themselves in the league standings with just three matches left, and it helped them complete the sweep over Saugus this year.

"It was the same thing that happened last time they played us. Just too many mistakes," said Saugus head coach Zach Ambrose, whose team is now 18-5 overall and tied with West Ranch for second place in league at 5-2.

It didn't appear either team was willing to make a mistake at the end of the fourth game.

When Valencia outside hitter Serena LeDuff placed a kill just inside the back line to give her team a 24-22 lead, things looked bleak for the Centurions.

Two points later, it was tied at 24. The teams traded sideouts a few more times until Saugus landed two straight kills to take the lead at 29-28.

Those would be the last points the Centurions would score.

Valencia finished off the match with three straight points, two of which came from LeDuff kills. She had nine on the day.

Middle blocker Emily Ellias was also a key contributor in crunch time for Valencia and she finished with 11 kills.

"We just kept playing and playing," said Valencia head coach Ray Sanchez. "I really, truly think that, games like that, you win them after playing in those tough matches."

The Vikings, who just returned from a tournament in Phoenix, have played in several close matches this season, including the first matchup against Saugus on Oct. 7 that went into five games.

Early in the match, Valencia's serving carried it to a pair of decisive wins in the first two games.

The Vikings did it with service aces, and they kept the hard-hitting Saugus offense out of its system.

Specifically, Sanchez said he wanted to keep the ball away from Saugus hitter Jaclyn Clark.

Though she still managed a match-high 17 kills, most of them came in the third and fourth games after Saugus was well behind.

"It's really difficult because we started in a slump and had to fight back," Clark said.

Valencia's Ashtyn LaVoise led her team with 12 kills in the match.

"We did just enough to get it done," Sanchez said.