“It functioned like a first title game,” Sidwell Coach Ibrahim Toure said. “But Potomac was the better team that day. That was a tough loss. But looking at it now, but I think it’s a loss that helped us.”

Fueled by that failure, the Quakers entered the MAC tournament with a renewed energy. They beat St. James, 3-1, in the quarterfinals and then topped Flint Hill, again 3-1, in the semifinals. Thursday’s championship was, fittingly, against Potomac School.

The Quakers’ roster this season features 15 seniors, and one of Toure’s favorite things about the group is its ability to adapt. Before the rematch with Potomac, Toure asked his team to adjust tactics.

“The awesome thing about this group is that we’re capable of being a possession team but we also have the weapons to be a counter-attacking team,” Toure said. “We try to be flexible and adaptable based on the opponent. Most games this season, we dominated the ball. But against Potomac we needed to be more counter-attacking.

“And when I tell you that we did that perfectly [on Thursday], we did it perfectly. I couldn’t have dreamed of us executing better.”

The Quakers dismantled Potomac in a 5-2 victory, earning the MAC tournament championship and a share of the 2023 conference title. Senior Dylan Williams had a hat trick and senior Santiago Canencio added two goals of his own.

Now the Quakers turn their attention to the D.C. State Athletic Association tournament, where they will be pitted against some of the best programs in the District.

“The friendship and the chemistry in this team is amazing,” Toure said. “A lot of these kids have been going to school together at Sidwell for a long time. It’s also a mature group. I think if we play with the kind of discipline we showed in the MAC final, I think we can do well in the state tournament.”

Oxon Hill’s six senior starters, Coach Andria Bynum said, are “like rock stars in the school.”

That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The contingent, which arrived on the Clippers’ varsity volleyball team the same year Bynum did, have not failed much. It is 38-5 over the past three years. Classmates stop the players in the hallways after big games. A gym that used to echo now fills quickly. And, last week, they had plenty to celebrate, as they clinched their third consecutive county championship with a four-set win over Eleanor Roosevelt.

“They have just bought into my philosophies,” Bynum said. “They communicate together, they move together and we have a lot of fun. The seniors have built a name for Oxon Hill volleyball.”

In Prince George’s County, they are less so the team to beat and more so the team that others use as a model and a beacon for future success. A handful of teams in the county are inching toward catching up with other more established programs, though none have done so quite as successfully as Oxon Hill. That’s predicated predominantly on commitment. All six senior starters, for instance, play club volleyball, which is almost universally seen as a prerequisite to keep up with top programs in the area. The team has a 4.3 cumulative GPA. There’s a class president on the roster. They finish their coach’s sentences before she can offer advice or correct a player’s form.

There’s also a sense that momentum will extend beyond the senior class. This season, more than 60 players came to try out for the team. Other coaches are taking note.

“She’s doing a wonderful job in terms of changing the narrative of volleyball in this county and the intensity of what training looks like,” Riverdale Baptist Coach Amanda Lloyd said.

In postseason play, all but one team sees its season end with a loss. Spalding was on the wrong side of that reality this year.

The No. 2 Cavaliers took an undefeated record into the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship game but lost to Garrison Forest, 3-1. Sunday’s match at Stevenson University also marked the second straight year the Cavaliers (14-1) fell to the Grizzlies (11-3) — who have won three of the past four titles — with hardware on the line.

Spalding won the regular season matchup between the teams, 6-2. It held the majority of chances again Sunday but could only score on any of its 15 penalty corners.

“I can’t really explain it, to be honest,” Coach Leslee Brady said. “You know, sometimes corner play comes down to luck. Somebody tips the ball, somebody does this. It just didn’t turn our way.”

Brady is still proud of her team’s accomplishments this season. The Cavaliers won their first 14 games, including victories over two teams in The Post’s midseason rankings: No. 1 Broadneck and No. 10 Stone Ridge.

“It was definitely a special season and one that we will remember,” Brady said. “… We’re very proud of what they have accomplished. This is a special group.”

When the 2022 season started, Wootton Coach Kellie Redmond looked at her team and admitted it might be a tough year ahead.

Now, that feels like a distant memory. The Patriots won the Maryland 3A West Region championship Thursday in Frederick, led by top-five finishers Edward Sun (16:11) and Rendon Herman (16:18). Wootton has transformed its program from a middle-of-the-pack program into a championship contender heading into Saturday’s state meet.

The Patriots are doing all this despite the lack of a true star talent compared with other top teams. That puts an immense amount of pressure on the middle part of the roster to bring in points, which they have embraced.

“That’s something we talk about a lot,” Sun said about the lack of a true star. “We’re not going to have a top-top finisher … but we just need to work on our depth beating there depth.”

Archbishop Spalding fell to an undefeated and nationally-ranked McDonogh School, 6-1, in the IAAM A Conference championship Saturday, but a young Cavaliers team showed progress by making the final.

Spalding entered its 2023 season returning just four starters. To integrate 10 new players to the varsity roster, many of whom would fulfill key roles, the Cavaliers prioritized team bonding off the pitch.

They paired classroom exercises, in which players discussed their vulnerabilities and life experiences, with team activities such as a pumpkin carving contest, a ropes course and a pickleball competition.

“Learning each other’s player strengths and understanding us as human beings and people, that was really important for this season, so we had a stronger foundation, kind of a core going into next season,” Coach Ashly Kennedy said. “That’s where a lot of the growth off the field came from.”

The Cavaliers (6-8-2), who stumbled to a quarterfinal exit in last year’s conference tournament, earned the second seed this year with a 4-4 record in conference play and advanced to the final after a 3-2 win Wednesday against Notre Dame Prep.

Now, the Cavaliers feel, they’re even better situated for the future.

“There’s a lot of desire for the returning players to want to be better and now they know what to expect,” Kennedy said.