Bishop Guertin girls volleyball able to hold on for win over Portsmouth (video)

NASHUA - The Bishop Guertin High School girls volleyball team found out early Wednesday night that it was going to have to be ready to battle for every point against Portsmouth.

When the Cardinals weren't, things didn't turn out well, but fortunately for them, more often than not, they were prepared.

Bishop Guertin split two back-and-forth sets before rallying for wins in the final two to beat the Clippers 3-1 in Division I action. Game scores were 25-19, 17-25, 25-22 and 25-21.

Julia Pascucci led the Cardinals (5-1) with six aces, nine kills, 27 assists and 14 digs while Paola Matos added digs and Rita Dow had 11 kills, as six different players recorded at least four kills.

"I thought we did a good job spreading the ball around," Bishop Guertin coach Abby Savard said. "The intensity was there, the energy was there. I did feel like we came out ready to play. I think that’s half the battle, mentally being engaged, and being able to do that gave us the upper hand."

The Cardinals needed to be engaged early on, as Portsmouth (3-4) stormed out to a lead in the first set before Bishop Guertin could come back, and the Clippers continued to bring it in the second. But the Cardinals stumbled down the stretch in that game and needed to regroup knowing that the match was now a best-of-three.

"In the first game, we felt like we were going to get these points and able to push more," Matos said. "The second game, we got down on ourselves. Our serves were off and we were both making mistakes. We were really in our heads. We needed to refocus. We did better that third game after we talked about it as a group."

Bishop Guertin was down 5-1 to start the match before coming back to pull even at 6-6 behind the serving of Pascucci. From there, the teams alternated points until the Cardinals were able to go up 18-15 and force a Portsmouth timeout, but Bishop Guertin was able to get the lead up to six points and kept it there for the win.

The second game saw the same back-and-forth play until the Cardinals started to make mistakes and the Clippers were able to capitalize. After tying it 8-8, Portsmouth won four straight and eventually went ahead 16-11, and behind a strong set from Corinne Lamond, won by eight points.

"Portsmouth is a solid team, so the second you let up, they’re going to create runs and challenge you," Savard said. "When you are letting up and creating your own errors, it makes it harder.

"We had five or six missed serves. That would have made it a two-point game. (Lamond) is one of their star players and she’s a phenomenal athlete. She sets from the back row and blocks and plays extremely well. If we didn’t shut her down, she was going to cause problems."

The Cardinals came back strong in the third game, going up 7-2 early, but Portsmouth came back again to tie it at 8 each. This time, Bishop Guertin was able to respond, largely behind the serving of Dow, to take a 15-9 lead.

The Clippers were able to grab momentum back, going on a run of their own to take a 20-17 lead, but a hitting error gave the Cardinals life and Pascucci served seven straight points to help give Bishop Guertin a 25-21 win.

"Julia brought us back in that third game with her end-of-the-game serves," Savard said. "It’s important for us to know we can do that. We’re going to lose 20 points every match, if not more, so for them to not let that defeat them and make adjustments according to what we see on the other side, that’s critical. Now when we’re faced with these situations in big games, we’re confident to (make adjustments) and not be afraid of a five- or six-point deficit."

Being able to improve the communication on the floor went along way to helping Bishop Guertin, too.

"We just have to focus," Matos said. "We have to tell each other ‘you’ve got this’ or ‘I’ve got this.’ When we would lose a point, we got together in the huddle and say ‘go here’ or ‘go there.’ There were a couple of times we were down, but it’s just a mental game and have to refocus."

Portsmouth had a 10-5 lead to start the fourth game, but Bishop Guertin chipped away until, finally, a run of six straight points and nine of 10, gave the Cardinals an 18-15 lead. The Clippers would cut the lead to one late, 23-22, but the Cardinals took the final two points to close out the win.