Bishop Guertin boys volleyball shows resiliency in win over Londonderry

LONDONDERRY – The Bishop Guertin High School boys volleyball team proved that it possesses mental toughness on Monday.

The Cardinals won the first set at Londonderry, and then blew a lead and dropped the second set. Rather than hanging their heads, the Cardinals raced out to a 16-3 during the pivotal third set, as Bishop Guertin cruised to its fourth straight win with a 3-1 triumph.

“I have had teams before that they would have loss that second set, and then they would have given up the whole game,” said Bishop Guertin coach Matt Box. “It speaks to their mental toughness. There is nothing that I can say or do to turn that around. That is purely from them. You either want to win games or you do not. They certainly had the skills to turn this match around and they did.”

Senior captain and middle hitter Joe Noon registered a strong all-around game for the Cardinals (4-1), finishing with 11 kills, nine digs, six blocks and four aces. He was a force at the net on the offensive and defensive side, using crafty hits and altering shots with his length.

DJ Omogrosso (four blocks) and Erik Wizboski (six kills, one ace) also played well. Bishop Guertin senior captain and setter Chris Barillas placed some outstanding balls for his hitters, while chasing down and sacrificing his body for a couple of impressive digs.

A kill by Noon landed right on the backline and gave Bishop Guertin an 8-4 edge in the first set. Back-to-back service points by Lancers senior James Buttafuoco trimmed the Cardinals’ lead down to 17-15, but Bishop Guertin was able to build a 23-18 lead on a kill by Omogrosso during a 25-21 first-set win.

The Cardinals rode their momentum into Game 2, as Noon tallied a couple early blocks, and five straight service points by Victor Martinez, including an ace, put the visitors up 5-0. Londonderry (0-5) fired back with an 11-5 run, with an ace by senior Patrick Cohen giving the Lancers the lead for the first time in Game 2 at 11-10.

Noon unloaded with a kill, giving the Cardinals an 18-16 lead, but the Lancers executed down the stretch, scoring nine of the final 13 points for a 25-22 victory.

“We made some improvements, but I was frustrated at times because we stopped playing our game,” Box said. “We were able to turn it around really quick, especially in the third set. We have been focusing on serve receive and passing, which were not better in this game. It had been better over the past week, and I am going to chalk up (the setback) to the fact that we just had four days off for the holiday. We are certainly making progress step by step. I am interested to see where we are going to be in a few weeks.”

The Cardinals focused on their block in Game 3, as Buttafuoco gave Bishop Guertin fits in the second half of Game 2. Wizboski and Noon posted back-to-back blocks on Buttafuoco, putting BG in front, 6-2, and all of a sudden, Guertin built a 16-3 advantage on a block at the net by Noon. A kill by Noon clinched a 25-13 win.

During the fourth set, Londonderry hung around, but a kill by Wizboski started giving BG some separation at 18-12. The Lancers chipped away and came to within 20-16, and then Noon sealed the deal with back-to-back aces, ending a 5-0 run and clinching a 25-16 victory.

“We did some scrimmages in preseason and we lost them all,” Box said. “That was important because it showed me since we were rebuilding this year what we have to focus our time on. That is serve receive No. 1 and defense No. 2. We have started making strides in those areas over the last couple weeks, and we are starting to practice in other areas, like attacking, but if you cannot pass you cannot play the game.”

Londonderry will be back in action on Thursday with a 6:30 p.m. match at Salem and Bishop Guertin will host Farmington on Tuesday, April 30, at 5:45 p.m.