The Warren Area High School volleyball team receives a police escort through town as they leave for Cumberland Valley High School, site of Saturday’s PIAA finals.

Today, the Warren Area High School volleyball team will lace ’em up for the final time in 2018.

The fact that they know that to be a reality on November 17 means that they have done something special.

Because this date was set in stone a long time ago as the day of the PIAA volleyball state finals at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg.

Be legendary.

It’s the mantra that is inscribed on their shirts every time they have taken the court to warm-up before a game this season.

The fact of the matter is that many teams aspire to be it, but few actually achieve it.

Regardless of today’s outcome against West York (3:30 p.m., PCN TV app), they have already done that.

Undefeated regular season? Check

The first District 10 title in program history? Check

Really, you could stop there and this season would have been considered a monumental success.

But that wasn’t enough, not for this group.

“We want more,” said junior outside hitter Grace Wortman after the D-10 title.

It’s a group that has spent years playing together, through the falls, winters, springs and summers.

You see, legendary isn’t something you achieve by just showing up when fall practices starts.

No, this is a moment that has been years in the making, forged in blood, sweat and tears, through the grind of sweltering summer heat, endless hours in the gym and pushing each other to the limit.

That’s what legendary is made of. It’s not something that just presents itself through lucky bounces or fortunate circumstances.

You have to want it.

How bad do you have to want it?

You have to want it so bad that the moment your season ends in heartbreaking fashion, you have to yearn to be back in the gym immediately.

In fact, as coaches Mike Dolan, Sue Baldensperger and Randy Gillotti recall it, that’s exactly what happened after 2017’s District 10 title game loss to General McLane.

‘Open gym on Monday, right?’

That was the refrain echoed by this group of extraordinary young women.

And that fire didn’t leave them days or weeks after the loss to McLane. It has stuck with them all the way to this moment.

It stuck with them when they wanted to say enough for the day. It stuck with them when they wanted to be done with a workout or say ‘well that’s enough for one day.’

That’s not what legends do.

They want it. They want it more than their opponents and are willing to pay the price to make it a reality.

That reality is here, today. Really it has been there every step of the way through this historic run.

Because Warren volleyball hasn’t just won, they have dominated some of the best competition Pennsylvania has to offer.

Not long after the D-10 title win over Conneaut, junior setter Lex Nyquist recalled how their opponents, who gave them everything they wanted and then some, appeared to tire in the fourth set.

“They (Conneaut) were huffing and puffing and we heard a couple of the other girls at the net say how tired they were and we weren’t tired at all,” Nyquist said.

That’s the difference.

On a team full of tireless work ethics, Nyquist’s is unrivaled.

All those hours, those are the difference between good teams and championships teams.

And all of it has gotten them here, to this point, playing for a state championship, something a Warren team has won just once in its history (1966 cross country).

Legends are made, not born.

And this group of legends has been made in Warren, built by a desire for greatness.

It’s a journey that began with just each other, shaped in quiet gyms with no one watching except for their coaches.

And it will culminate today, surrounded by hundreds of supporters in a not-so-quiet gym 230 miles away, with many more watching from afar.

That’s legendary.