Courtney Meyer’s spike attempt bounced off a Warwick player’s fingertip and went straight to the floor, and the Pine Bush volleyball team erupted in both excitement and relief.

Meyer’s kill gave Pine Bush a 2-point win in the match’s fourth set, and Pine Bush defeated the Warwick Wildcats, 3-1, on Wednesday at Pine Bush High School, clinching a .500 Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II record and guaranteeing them a spot in the Section 9 Class AA tournament.

“At that point it was just excitement,” said Meyer, who finished the day with 12 kills. “I love playing with these girls. They’re more than friends, more than teammates or my family.”

Winning the fourth set also ensured the Bushmen would not have to face the Wildcats in a decisive fifth set. Pine Bush won the first set, 25-15, but the Wildcats answered with a 25-19 victory in the second to even the match at 1-1.

“I honestly wanted to beat them in three, and get it over and done with, but in the second set when we lost, I think that just brought more energy to the team. It just got us really excited,” Meyer said.

The Bushmen took the lead for good when a hitting error by Warwick’s Erin Smith sent Monica Ilioiu to the service line. She recorded four aces in a four-point swing, giving them a 9-4 lead. Warwick eventually battled back to tie the set at 15-15 on a kill by Smith.

However, with the set tied at 17-17, a kill by Meyer gave Pine Bush the lead and sent her back to the service line. Three straight service points, including an ace, restored Pine Bush’s four-point lead. Warwick closed to three once, but Pine Bush scored a 25-20 win in the third set to take control of the match.

“It was really just coming together as a team,” Pine Bush coach Melyssa Amelio said. “They’re a great team, but we struggled. We beat them in four last time when we played them at their home, so we knew it was going to be a hard game. I think mentally they were prepared, but physically, sometimes they don’t mesh the two. It’s just getting that mental toughness and applying it to the game.”

They needed all that mental toughness for the fourth set, which was the tightest. The Wildcats took control first, opening a 3-1 lead, but Pine Bush rallied back to tie and take a two-point lead of their own.

The set was tied three times before Meyer’s three-point service run gave the Bushmen a 12-8 lead. They maintained about a four-point lead until Warwick’s Adriana Nicosia went to the service line. She scored three straight service points to pull the Wildcats to within a point, 22-21.

It was still a one-point set when Meyer delivered the final blow.

“Courtney was sick yesterday, which doesn’t help,” Amelio said. We’ve made some changes along the season so we’re just trying to find what we want to do, and which groove we’re going to find. But they’re great kids. I’ve been here 13 years, on varsity for six and this is one of my favorite teams.”

With their playoff berth in hand, the Bushmen still have half of their divisional schedule to go. So far, they’ve beaten the Wildcats twice and the Valley Central Vikings once. They still have two meetings with the Washingtonville Wizards, along with a crossover meeting with Monroe-Woodbury.

They finished the week with a 3-0 win over the Middletown Middies.

“As a senior, I’m beyond happy to have that top spot in the division and I just don’t want it to go away,” Meyer said. “I don’ t think the team wants it to go away. So, we’re just going to bring everything we’ve got keep that No. 1 seed.”