What a difference a year makes.
Last year, the Lynnfield volleyball team got off to one of its shakiest starts in program history, losing its first four matches – two of them in shutouts.
Fast forward to 2024. While the Pioneers were facing a monstrous challenge of four straight road games, the Pioneers (2-1; Cape Ann League 1-1) seemed to turn the page.
The Pioneers opened the season on Sept. 2 with a rock-solid 3-1 road win over Stoneham. Lynnfield dominated the first two sets, winning 25-16 and 25-10. The Spartans rallied to take the third set in overtime, 28-26, to stay alive, but Lynnfield returned to form in the fourth set, closing out the match with a 25-21 win.
Three days later, the Pioneers dropped a tight, back-and-forth battle (3-2) to three-time Division 4 state champion Ipswich, a program that knocked off Lynnfield twice in shutouts in 2023.
The Pioneers looked to be facing a repeat of last year’s sweep after dropping the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-19. However, they had other ideas and won the next two sets, 25-21 and 25-20, to force a decisive fifth set, only to come up just short, 15-11.
For the record, the Tigers were 23-0 in 2023, dropping only six sets. Only once did an opponent take them to five sets – that being in the state championship match against Bellingham.
Monday, the Pioneers rebounded with a 3-0 win over Hamilton-Wenham, a quarterfinalist in the 2023 Division 4 tournament. The Pioneers survived a close first set, 25-21, then breezed in the next two, taking them by identical 25-17 scores.
The Pioneers return home Friday for their home-opener against league rival Newburyport. The match tips off at 5:15 p.m.
