Dover girls volleyball advances to D1 quarterfinals with a sweep of Nashua North

DOVER - With a regular season sweep of Nashua North under its belt, the Dover High School girls volleyball team came into Thursday night’s rematch in the Division I prelims brimming with confidence.

And it showed.

Sixth-seeded Dover eventually took control for good in the first set on its way way to repeating its early October showing against No. 11 North with a 3-0 victory. The set scores were 25-18, 25-18 and 25-23.

“We beat them during the regular season, which gave us confidence. We studied them a lot, because we had the time, and we were ready," Dover coach Whitney Carrier said. “We had a bad game (against Bedford), so it was nice for them to come back here and win one more time.”

Dover (14-5) rebounded from a 3-0 loss in its regular-season finale to Bedford behind the strength of junior Rachel Vitko’s 11 kills and nine digs. Senior Mia Whitehead added nine kills, 10 digs and three aces, while her classmate Kyra Cantwell recorded eight kills, 14 assists and 10 digs.

“We have a tendency of starting off slow, and I felt in this game we had better warmup," Vitko said. “We started off stronger than we usually do, which really helped us out in the long run.”

The Green Wave advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals inside Hackler Gymnasium against No. 3 Pinkerton Academy, after the Astros eliminated No. 14 Alvirne (9-10) via a 3-0 decision. Dover traveled to Pinkerton during the regular season and lost, 3-1.

“The first (set against Pinkerton) wasn’t close, but the others were and I know we had a lot of unforced errors that game,” Carrier said. “We’re comfortable now and more prepared. Now, we don't have to worry about playing there because we already played there once this year. We know what they do, we know they’re lineups, so having that knowledge will help.”

Dover had trouble shaking off North (9-10) early in Set 1, but Vitko’s block broke an 8-8 tie. The Titans stayed with Dover, making it 11-10 before a dig by Sierra Castonguay helped spark an 8-1 run. Whitehead delivered a block and kill, followed by a Castonguay ace and Cantwell kill to give Dover an 18-11 lead.

Cantwell and Samantha Winters closed out the first set with kills, and Dover had a more comfortable cushion throughout Set 2. North got within 11-8, but Whitehead delivered a pair of aces and Cantwell added a kill during an 8-2 stretch that gave Dover a 21-11 lead.

“We have the mindset to stay calm, but we miss calm, and we’re not mentally tough,” Whitehead said. “I think this time we did a good job of staying mentally tough. In the end, we physically think we can beat anyone, it just comes down to what is going inside our brains.”

North fell into holes of 6-0 and 17-9 in the third set when a Mina Regnery ace ignited a 7-2 run to bring the Titans within 19-16. North closed within 24-23, when an unforced error closed the match.

Haley Stanton had three kills, 12 digs and two aces for North, while Meaghan Valcourt had 14 assists and six digs. Kelsey Laliberte added seven kills for the Titans.

“Being able to keep all three games close, I was proud of the girls,” North coach Nicole Fitzgibbons said. “As a coach, that’s all you can ask for. No matter what the scoreboard said, they gave it their all right to the end.”

Now Dover has the task of going on the road for the upset at Pinkerton. The winner returns to Pinkerton for next Tuesday’s semifinals against No. 7 Portsmouth (14-5) or second-seeded, four-time defending champion Hollis Brookline (19-0).

“I feel like the team that wins is going to be the team that put the best effort and hard work,” Vitko said. “I feel like if we can do that, we can beat them.”