Even when the Coe-Brown volleyball team dropped a set, head coach Renee Zobel wasn’t concerned.

After all, this is a much more confident Bears’ squad than the one that took the court a year ago.

The No. 6 Bears regained their composure to upset the No. 2 Milford Spartans, 25-21, 13-25, 25-20, 25-21, sending Coe-Brown (13-5) to Saturday’s Division II championship against No. 1 Gilford (18-0) at Pinkerton Academy.

With the exception of the second set, it was point-for-point play throughout the match against the Spartans (15-3), who were last year’s runner-up.

“It was basically the team that stayed aggressive was the team that took the set,” Zobel said. “Whoever made smart decisions on both the service lines and the net was the team that took the lead.”

After a 25-21 first-set victory, the Bears had some trouble against the Spartans’ service in the second set.

Sophomore setter Kaitlyn Miller had 37 assists, putting her over 700 career assists in just two seasons. Miller’s play also jumpstarted a balanced offense led by juniors Jessie Davis (14 kills), Anneliese Wade (12 kills) and Anika Smith (10 kills, two aces), to help get Coe-Brown back into the match.

“It’s becoming a characteristic of this team,” Zobel said. “We did the same thing against John Stark last week (in the quarterfinals). We lost a set 25-11 then closed out the next two sets (to win 3-2). I never worry when we go down. We’ve come back. Mentally, they’re capable of a lot.”

The Bears also had a balanced defensive effort as well, with senior captain Abby Jerome recording a team-high 18 digs, in addition to nine kills and two aces, while Davis had 12 digs and juniors Beatrice Tursi and Emily Morris combined for 17.

“When someone was struggling, someone else stepped up,” Zobel said. “They all traded that role. The way they played for each other … they worked together beautifully on defense.”

Coe-Brown won the third set 25-21 and led 22-21 in the fourth when Morris had a nice service run to extend the lead to 24-21.

Miller had a strong serve for the match-winning point, wrapping up a victory that avenged the Bears’ 3-1 loss to Milford on Sept. 27.

Coe-Brown will be making just its second championship appearance in program history.

The Bears claimed the D-II title in their only other appearance in 2013 – a 3-1 victory over Windham.

Coe-Brown has already played Gilford twice, and lost, both times by 3-0 scores, but Zobel has watched the team gain maturity and experience over her two years as the program’s head coach.

“We were a young team (mostly sophomores) last year,” Zobel said. “We spent the entire season trying to improve their confidence and not being afraid to take risks. we stress taking on each match with a confident mindset.”

The Bears will need all the confidence they can muster heading into the title game as the underdogs against the No. 1 Golden Eagles, the defending champions and winners of four of the last eight D-II titles.

The opening serve at Pinkerton Academy is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday.