If this was supposed to be the premier girls volleyball matchup in the Foothill League, it was everything as advertised on Thursday night.

Defending league champion Valencia defeated Saugus, who came in at No. 10 in this week's CIF-Southern Section Division I-A poll, 3-2 at Saugus High School.

The Vikings rallied back after trailing 2-1, and won with scores of 25-17, 20-25, 23-25, 25-16 and 15-9.

"I want the CIF (ranked teams) to go through Valencia," said Valencia outside hitter Serena LeDuff, who led the team with 15 kills. "I didn't want them to think they could win against us."

It was no cake walk for Valencia (6-6, 2-0 in league), which lost two games that came down to the wire to fall behind in front of a raucous Saugus crowd.

The hitting combination of LeDuff and senior Emily Ellias lifted Valencia to a decisive win in the fifth game.

When Valencia jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth game, Saugus called a timeout and tried to regroup. Though the Centurions rallied to within a point, a pair of aces from Vikings setter Carly Carapella put her team in command at 12-6.

A kill from outside hitter Sierra Sanchez ended another small threat and gave Valencia its second straight Foothill League win.

"They showed a lot of character to come back and win that fourth game after losing the way they did (in the third game)," said Valencia head coach Ray Sanchez.

Ellias finished with 14 kills and six blocks for the match while Sanchez had 12 kills. Carapella assisted 44 points for the day.

The first game played out similar to the fifth.

Saugus (14-4, 1-1) never led in the first game and lost it thanks to numerous costly errors and good defense by Valencia.

The Centurions again started slow in the second game, but rallied back and took their first lead of the match 7-6 off a Jaclyn Clark kill. She finished with 10 on the day and added 25 digs.

Saugus' Sarah Blomgren led all players with 20 kills.

It was a back and forth set until Saugus finished the game off on a 5-0 run.

The third game was even tighter. Valencia middle blockers Ellias and Chloe Grifman weathered the storm from Saugus hitters. The two combined for 11 blocks in the match.

The Vikings took a 23-20 lead in the game off a Sierra Sanchez kill, but the Centurions came out of a timeout and scored five straight points to win the game.

"We fought to the end. Even in the last game we were fighting. We still have control of our own destiny in the league," said Saugus head coach Zach Ambrose.

Valencia's serving stole the show in the fourth game.

Sanchez notched three aces in the game and Saugus' offense was kept at bay throughout the match by Valencia's solid serving.

"We really focused on it in practice this week," Ray Sanchez said of the serving. "We really like to keep them out of system."

Both teams are in action again Tuesday. Valencia plays again at Canyon 5 p.m., while Saugus travels to play against Hart at 5:15 p.m.