SAN MARCOS -- Gutsy comebacks carried Brenham to the brink of a state volleyball championship, but the Cubettes hadn't seen a team as good as Canyon Randall during their playoff run.

That's because there was not a Class 4A team in Texas as good as Randall.

The Raiders completed a near-perfect season by beating Brenham 26-24, 25-23, 25-11 in the 4A championship match of the UIL state volleyball tournament Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 3,162 at Strahan Coliseum. Randall won 42 consecutive matches after dropping its season opener to 5A finalist Amarillo, rolling to its first state title by matching Brenham's scrappy floor game and overpowering the shorter Cubettes at the net.

Brenham, making its second state tournament appearance, finished the most successful season in program history at 41-7. The Cubettes reached the state final for the first time and broke through after losing in the regional championship for two consecutive seasons, but Brenham could not reproduce its outstanding play from a semifinal sweep of top-ranked Richardson Pearce.

"We came out in those first two games and fought hard," senior standout Bethany Yeager said. "We did all we could, but they were better than us. At least today they were. They came out ready to take the state championship."

Randall extended the dry spell for Brazos Valley teams at the state tournament. Although the area has sent plenty of teams to the Final Four, no BV team has claimed a state title since Leon in 2002.

The Raiders came up with a few more plays at the end of the first two games, and then dominated a Brenham team that overcame one- and two-game deficits during the Region III tournament.

"We're really similar teams," said Randall middle blocker Aubree Piper, the MVP of the final. "We have a lot of heart. We're one of those teams that you can't get us down. We just stepped it up a notch because we weren't going to get beat. We weren't going to let that happen."

Brenham recovered from a shaky start to push the Raiders to extra points in the first game. Randall scored three consecutive points for a 20-18 lead, but the Cubettes pulled even at 22-all, 23-all and 24-all. Brenham survived one game point on a net violation, but sophomore Kate Dudding made a big block and then Raegan Shelton got the game-winner with a well-placed dink.

The green-clad Brenham fans screamed for a call on game point when Randall libero Tawney Westenburg fought off a spike headed for her chest. That came after Westenburg made a tough diving save to keep the point alive when Brenham was a couple of inches from another tie.

"That was a big confidence-booster to us," Randall coach Jason Culpepper said. "We stayed calm and kept our poise. When we came back and won Game 2, we relaxed even a little more and the momentum kept going."

Brenham led the second game 11-6 before Randall picked up its power attack and errors began to plague the Cubettes. Brenham's last lead came at 15-14, but the Cubettes stayed close enough to again get within a couple of points of winning.

Emily Albus came up with a big block and added a kill to make it 23-23. However, Shelton answered with a kill and Dudding delivered a block to end the game.

The Cubettes had been able to overcome a lineup with four 6-footers in the semifinals, but Randall also had four players at least 6 feet tall, and their blocking was sensational. The Raiders finished with 11 blocks, compared to four for Brenham.

"People have been bigger than us a lot, but they put up a great block," Brenham coach Debbie Yeager said. "It was tough to get our offense going in any fashion. We held in there strong for a while, and then our serve-receive broke down. After that, our defense broke down, and then we all broke down. We just came up short today."

Junior middle blocker Caroline Young led Brenham with 10 kills. Scout Brooks, another junior, added seven kills while Albus finished with five. Bethany Yeager made 10 digs, while the Cubettes got 13 assists from Kelsey Schwartz and 12 by Molly Duge.

Piper had 10 kills for Randall, while Shelton added eight kills, three blocks and nine digs.

Coach Yeager compared Brenham's previous trip to state, a loss in the semifinal round, to being whisked in and whisked out. This time the Cubettes stuck around to the end, even though it didn't end the way they wanted.

"It means a lot to reach the state final," Albus said. "We've all been talking about it since we were in junior high. It almost seemed unreal that we were here, but we fought as hard as we could to get here, and I think we deserved it."