GARLAND — A year from now, Emma Halstead will be the unquestioned senior leader. She’ll be the go-to player, the person that teammates will turn to, the one required to lead by words and deeds, and to perform valiantly in critical moments.

It will be the natural ascension in the Brandeis High School volleyball lineage, from Ashley Rine to Katie MacLeay, Jordan Jefferson to Emily DeWalt, Maya Smalls to Selby Draker, Jalyn Gibson and Carlee Pharris.

With a date in the UIL Class 6A state final seemingly going from a lock to precarious, though, Halstead didn’t wait her turn. She cut in front of the line.

The junior outside hitter had nine of her match-high 22 kills in the fourth set as the Broncos halted Bridgeland 25-18, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21 Friday in a 6A semifinal contest at the Culwell Center.

Brandeis (46-2) will face Keller in the 6A state final at 5 p.m. Saturday. Keller outlasted Fort Bend Ridge Point 22-25, 26-24, 25-11, 24-26, 15-11 in Friday’s other semifinal.

“I just took charge,” said Halstead, who had six kills after the teams were tied at 14 in the decisive fourth frame. “I was ready to go. Being able to be relied on is something I’m OK with. I think that’s a big thing for our team. I think we have a lot of very capable people. It keeps teams guessing, it keeps them on their toes.”

The Broncos will be the first area team to play for a title since Poth in 2014 and the first to do so in the state’s largest classification since Churchill in 2013. It didn’t come easy. Brandeis watched earlier as New Braunfels Canyon lost in five sets to Grapevine after winning the first two sets and battled to avoid a similar fate.

“I think, obviously, it’s in the back of your head,” Brandeis coach Maddie Williams. “It’s all of nothing at this point. I believed in them, I knew that we could do it, I just knew we had to get back to our pace.”

Bridgeland extended the match when it won the third set behind Mallorie Garner, who had six of her team-best 20 kills during the frame. The Bears never trailed and led by as much as 11 points.

“We knew Bridgeland was going to be a team that’s going to fight, no matter what,” said Pharris, who had 47 assists, 19 digs and two aces. “We kept saying the same thing we’ve said every playoff game — that’s a team that’s in our way, and we have a goal. We had to take them out in order to achieve that.”

Brandeis met its goal early, using strong pushes midway through the first two sets to grab control. A focal point of Bridgeland’s defense, Gibson shook off the extra attention to net 18 kills and 22 digs. She had five kills in the second frame.

“At the beginning, they were obviously camped on me and I had to make a big adjustment and work through it,” Gibson said.

In the opening set, Pharris uncorked back-to-back aces to provide the Broncos the breathing room they needed to succeed. Leila Smalls had 10 kills, Dani Gray had 19 digs and Samantha Valadez contributed 10 digs and an ace.

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