EDMONDS — Determined to scrape together a win for a fallen teammate, the Shorewood volleyball team came within a hair of scoring a major upset.

The Thunderbirds gave Edmonds-Woodway all it could handle and then some before finally succumbing to the unbeaten Warriors in a five-game Western Conference 4A South Division nail-biter Tuesday night at Edmonds-Woodway High.

E-W outlasted Shorewood 23-25, 25-13, 22-25, 25-16, 15-11 to keep its perfect record intact, but the T-birds turned the narrow defeat to one of the favorites to claim the league title into a confidence builder.

“Instead of the kids listening to me say they can be competitive, now they have some physical proof,” Shorewood coach Andy Robertson said. “I don’t have to beat my brains out trying to get it across to them that, yeah, they can actually play. Now they’ve got to believe because of what we just did right here.”

Shorewood suffered a more substantial loss late in the first game when senior libero Shannon Sullivan injured her left arm diving to the floor for a dig.

Robertson said before she headed to nearby Stevens Hospital, the second-team, all-leaguer was “complaining about severe elbow pain and extreme pain in her fingertips.”

Sullivan’s exit leaves a significant void in Shorewood’s lineup.

“That’s huge,” Robertson said. “She’s our best passer our best digger. Liberos are on the court 90 percent of the time. It’s going to be a huge thing we have to overcome.”

After Sullivan left, the T-birds (0-2 league, 1-6 overall) regrouped to take the opening game on an E-W double-hit. The Warriors (2-0, 7-0) never trailed in the second game and charged to a 18-9 lead with a 7-2 spurt that included four kills and a block by Tiana Roma.

E-W was in front 18-12 in game three and owned a four-point cushion until Shorewood responded with a 9-2 run to close the game. Stephanie West served out the final four points and Erica Little finished off the Warriors with a block and a kill.

After Shorewood jumped to a 6-2 advantage in the fourth game, E-W rattled off 17 of the next 19 points to take a commanding lead and force a fifth game.

Both teams came out sloppy to start the final game, knocking serves and spikes into the net. But the Warriors finally tightened up their shots and capitalized on three straight Shorewood errors to secure a 10-6 lead.

The T-birds closed their deficit to 13-10, but two more errant hits and an Erin Greenwood kill was all E-W needed to escape with its second five-game win of the season. Five service errors and six other miscues doomed Shorewood in the fifth game.

“We were playing extremely tentative and playing not to make mistakes,” Robertson said. “You can’t do that. If you’ve got a great set, you’ve got to take a rip. And if you don’t, you have to play smart.”

The T-birds had their hands full trying to contain Roma, Greenwood and Katie Trew, who combined for 35 kills. Little finished with a match-high 16 kills for Shorewood and teammate Natalie Soules added nine kills and four blocks.

“We have a pretty complex blocking package,” Robertson said. “We have seven blocking schemes the kids have done a real good job with. It takes away their best hitters and for the most part we did that. They got their kills, but we limited them.”

E-W coach Mike Pittis felt fortunate to come away with a win.

“Andrew always does a good job against us,” he said. “They’ve beaten us the last couple years in five games. He’s a very smart coach. He spotted the weaknesses and they went after them.”