Bedford girls volleyball holds off Pinkerton for win

DERRY - Bob Marr has been hoping to see his Bedford High School girls volleyball team take steps toward improvement every time it takes the court.

On Monday, Marr saw the Bulldogs take a big step in the right direction.

Bedford managed to hold off a handful of Pinkerton rallies to win 3-1 on the Astros' home floor, which also happens to be the host site for the Division I semifinals and final. Game scores were 25-20, 18-25, 26-24 and 25-20.

"They're coming together as a team, which is very important for consistency," Marr said. "It does (mean something), especially with the program that Pinkerton has had over the years. To get a win like this, it's impressive for my team, and I'm very happy for it."

After winning Game 1, Bedford (3-1) fell behind early in the second game, and despite catching up, Pinkerton was able to pull away at the end. But the Bulldogs bounced back in the next game, and were able to withstand a comeback that saw the Astros (2-2) take a 21-20 lead.

Bedford jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the fourth game, and although Pinkerton made it close down the stretch, the Bulldogs never gave up the lead to clinch their third win in a row.

Caroline Brodeur had 15 service points for Bedford, coming up big when the Bulldogs needed to go on a run, and also had five digs and two kills. Maggie McCoole filled in in the middle and had 13 kills and three blocks, while Katelynn Avallone had 31 assists, eight digs and six service points and Morgan Jonas had 15 service points, eight digs and two kills.

"(McCoole) stepped up for us," Marr said. "She usually plays right side for us. We had an illness with one of our starting middles, so Maggie was very pleased to go to middle.

"She's one of our more consistent servers. We usually have her serve to certain positions on the floor. We try to pick out weakness on the other team and we try to attack that."

That attack worked well in the first game, when Brodeur served eight straight points to help the Bulldogs take the win.

"I was happy once we got past Game 1, how our back row handled serve-receive," Pinkerton coach Todd Royce said. "Our defensive players made some solid passes. It gave our setter a chance to set the ball to our hitters."

Amelia Graves led Pinkerton with 10 kills and four aces, while Charlie Bull had nine kills and Ella Dandrade added eight kills. Megan Hough and Alivia Connors each had three blocks while Sarah Hicks had 15 service points and four aces and Sara Metzger had 33 assists.

But Royce felt that the Astros lacked consistency, something that he knows the team will be eager to get back on the floor to correct.

"We had moments where we were good and we just weren't consistent in the way we played," he said. "This team works extremely hard. They're already talking about practice (Tuesday). They'll come out and work hard because they're looking forward to Wednesday. This team never gives up."