Cavs rally not enough against Lancers

HOLLIS – The defending Division II champion looked like it was about to be overwhelmed by the defending Division I champion.

The Hollis/Brookline High School girls volleyball team trailed by as many as 10 points during Game 3 of Monday’s match against Londonderry. But every time it seemed like the Lancers were going to pull away, the Cavaliers came back.

H/B even tied the third game at 23 before succumbing, as the Cavs fell to Londonderry 25-17, 23-25, 25-23 and 25-18 in the Division I match.

Ari Creighton led the Cavs (9-2) with 20 kills and Hanna Mazzola added 17 kills while Kristyn Glover added 42 assists and Kelsey Berry, who moved to libero for the match, chipped in with 16 digs.

“I think we played great,” H/B coach Becky Balfour said. “I don’t think we ever let up. If we just kind of clean up things here and there, that could have made the difference. This is the best our team has played all season long.”

It didn’t look that way early in the third game.

After the teams had split the first two games, the Lancers (12-0) jumped out to a 10-1 lead and seemed poised to take over the match. Londonderry, last year’s Division I champ, had lost just three games all year, including the second game against H/B Monday night.

But the Cavs rallied, closing the gap to 14-9 before the Lancers called a timeout. The break worked, as Londonderry scored the next five points to make its lead 10. The teams traded points, with the Lancers taking a 20-10 lead before H/B made a run for it.

The Cavs went on a 13-3 run, including eight points in a row, to tie the game at 23.

“The biggest single thing was that we were giving too many opportunities,” Londonderry coach Pete Willis said. “We were tipping too much across the net and giving them free opportunities to set up offense. We weren’t putting any pressure on the defense at all.”

The Lancers finally stopped the run on a kill by Megan Schwarz and then won the next point to take the game 25-23.

“We gave them a lot of opportunities and to their credit they cashed in,” Willis said. “It was a hallmark of this bunch last year, that they were able to play point-to-point and able to turn momentum around. They were able to do that tonight after Hollis had their run.”

Londonderry started the fourth game the same way, going up 7-1 before H/B began to chip away again. The Cavs got within two points on several occasions, and trailed by just one, 16-15, when the Lancers put the match away by winning nine of the final 12 points.

“To come back and lose by two, that’s commendable,” Balfour said. “You don’t usually see teams come back from that big of a deficit. That’s what our team is going to do, fight and stay together.”

H/B returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Pinkerton.