The Lynnfield volleyball team may have defeated visiting Hamilton-Wenham 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-21) Friday night during the team’s annual Dig Pink night, but don’t let the final score fool you.
This one was a real defensive battle from the get-go with both teams pushing each other to the limit. Truth be told, there wasn’t a lot of offense – just a lot of great saves to keep long rallies alive on the part of both teams.
Down 2-0, the Generals made a charge in the third set, jumping out to an 18-12 lead after a Pioneer hitting error. Up 18-13, Hamilton-Wenham was in prime position to force a fourth set.
But the Pioneers had other ideas, thanks to an outstanding effort at the service line from junior Elliana Moretti (4 aces). All she did was take the Pioneers on a 6-0 run to take a 19-18 lead.
The Generals climbed back into it at 20-20 after a couple of Lynnfield errors, but the Pioneers closed out the set with a 5-1 run off the serve of junior captain Audrey Manning to seal the match.
Lynnfield coach Brent Ashley said this wasn’t the first time this year the Pioneers have come from behind against large deficits.
“The tough part is three of their kids play club with our kids, so I keep trying to remind these guys that you are the team everyone wants to beat, so you need to bring your best game to every match,” he said. “They’re weird like that because they love proving me wrong by winning sets that you really were out of. They’ve done that twice this year already when they’ve had to come back nine points to win.”
Ashley said the win was that much sweeter knowing the Pioneers were raising money for the Sideout Foundation’s efforts to fund breast cancer research.
“I met with the CEO of Sideout Foundation last year and he told me that over the last 10 years, we have raised more than $140,000 for breast cancer research,” Ashley said. “Since 2008, when we started Dig Pink, it’s got to be approaching $200,000 I have to think. It’s the kids’ favorite match of the year. It’s personal for all of us.”
Hamilton-Wenham coach Marc Turinano said he was pleased to see some “awesome rallies” by both teams.
“We haven’t really been able to win a lot of the close ones this year, so that was good to see,” he said. “We just weren’t able to finish off a couple of sets and you can’t do that against a good team like Lynnfield.”
Lynnfield jumped out to 19-12 lead in the first set, the final two points on a couple of serves from junior Thayer Sutherland that the Generals couldn’t handle. The Generals then went on a 10-2 to take their first lead of the set at 22-21 and still led 23-22. A pair of Generals’ errors and a big service winner from Olivia Kelter (4 aces) sealed the set.
The second set was back-and-forth with both teams struggling to hold serve – that was until sophomore Sophie Shaievitz came on to serve after a winner off the ceiling from Moretti that put Lynnfield on top 21-17. Back-to-back kills from Sutherland and Vaquerano, plus a Shaievitz ace, gave Lynnfield match point, 24-17. Hamilton-Wenham’s Morgan Etna kept the set alive with a monster kill, but a service error secured the set for Lynnfield.
Ashley highlighted the play of Vaquerano and sophomore Carina DeLeo (17 assists).
“She’s (Vaquerano) probably my lone senior who plays all six rotations,” Ashley said. “Defensively, she played fantastic for us and was our player of the game with 12 kills on just two errors. And Carina is just a gift who plays so well. She was fantastic today.”
Manning finished with nine kills and four aces. Kelter also had four aces.
Lynnfield’s (13-2) next match is Tuesday in Newburyport at 5 p.m.
“That’s our big one next week,” Ashley said. “We beat them 3-0, but it was at home. For us, we have to hold on if we want to win the CAL (Cape Ann League). We are tied right now with North Reading at 9-1, but we lost to them in five sets. All I know is Tuesday is going to be tough.”
Lynnfield 3
Ipswich 0
The Pioneers went into enemy territory Oct. 7 and came away with a sweep, 25-20, 25-17, 25-15.
Manning had a solid all-around game with 18 kills, 16 digs, 12 assists, three aces and two blocks. Vaquerano also played well, finishing with 14 kills, 12 digs and 11 service returns with zero errors. Moretti contributed 18 digs, eight assists and 16 service returns with only two errors.
Christine Choi also had no errors on service returns (12 returns, 6 kills, 2 digs, assist). DeLeo (13 assists, 5 digs), Kelter (6 service returns, 4 digs, ace), Marianna Axiotakis (2 digs, ace), Milana Labkovich (2 digs, ace), Shaievitz (3 digs), Katie Shrewsbury (2 blocks) and Sutherland (ace) also contributed to the winning effort.
