Dover girls volleyball bounces back with sweep of Spaulding

DOVER - One night after having its eight-match win streak snapped, the Dover High School girls volleyball team was ready to start another one against rival Spaulding. 

Dover hadn’t loss since the opening match of the season prior to dropping a 3-1 decision to Winnacunnet on Wednesday night, but the Green Wave rebounded in strong fashion with Thursday night’s 3-0 sweep of the Red Raiders in Division I action. Dover (9-2) won by set scores of 25-16, 25-20 and 25-19.

“I think because of the loss (Wednesday) night, we were more ready to come out and give it all we got,” Dover junior Rachel Vitko said. “We always try to come out like its our last game. (Thursday), we really established that and played like that from the beginning.”

Vitko delivered seven kills, eight digs and five aces on the night, while senior Mia Whitehouse had eight kills, nine digs and four aces. Senior Katy Cantwell added seven kills, while her twin sister, Kyra, had eight digs and 19 assists. 

“We had some sick kids on (Wednesday) and out, so that made a big difference. Having everybody healthy made a big difference in our game,” Dover coach Whitney Carrier said. “Everyone was back and getting comfortable. This one was a good win to come back to.”

Dover jumped out to a 10-3 lead in Set 1 following a pair of kills from Vitko on its way to cruising to the 25-16 victory, but Spaulding (7-4) made it more difficult in the following sets.

After Kyra Cantwell and Vitko bookended a 6-0 run with aces to give Dover an 11-5 lead, Katy Cantwell later added an ace to pad to the lead to 16-9. The Spaulding comeback began with a kill from April Beatty (10 kills, four digs).

Grace Beaulieu followed three straight unforced Dover errors with an ace to bring the Red Raiders with 17-16. Whitehouse and Beatty traded kills, but Whitehouse responded with a tip at the net and Katy Cantwell followed with a kill to give Dover a 20-17 lead.

“All my hitters - Katy, Mia, Rachel and Kyra - are all playing aggressive right now,” Carrier said. “They all coming up with plays and trying to be smart.”

With Dover up 21-20, Kyra Cantwell fed Vitko for a kill, and Vitko then delivered an ace. Whitehouse and Katy Cantwell scored the final two points to wrap up Dover’s 25-20 win.

”We worked harder, picked up the slack, got all of our serves in, and we were more consistent,” Whitehouse said. “It's always expected after the first game, if we play a good set and beat them by a lot, we say ‘don’t forget, they’ll probably pick it up, because they know what we’re doing.' We just tried to switch it up once they started coming back.”

Spaulding kept right with the Green Wave in the third set, when a Katy Cantwell kill gave Dover an 18-17 lead. The cushion grew to 21-18, before Vitko closed the match out with a victory with an ace.

“I think after the first half of the first set, we played much better. We played some different lineups and worked through those issues, and the kids played well after that,” Spaulding coach George Pendelton said. “I thought our serving was much and our shot selection was better in the second and third games.”

Vitko blossomed into an offensive threat as a sophomore, but she has made more strides in every part of her game with fall.

“I think I’m putting the ball down more, and hitting harder, because I’ve gotten stronger,” Vitko said. 

“It’s not just improve her hitting, it’d defense too,” Carrier said. “She did not play a lot of defense last year.

“I told her at the beginning of this year that I want you in the game, so you need to be able to play defense. That’s been a major improvement for her, and she’s taken it seriously.”

Both teams are off until Monday, when Dover travels to Pinkerton (9-1) and Spaulding hosts Exeter (6-4).

“We were playing slow teams at the beginning, but now it’s picked up more and more, and that’s just getting us ready for the next team,” Whitehouse said. “Our main focus is playoffs. We just want to get to where we need to be and come out with a win.”