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# Dover girls volleyball outlasts Portsmouth to advance to D1 championship
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/dover-girls-volleyball-outlasts-portsmouth-to-advance-to-d1-championship/
- Published: 2019-11-06T16:20:19.000Z
- Updated: 2019-11-06T16:20:19.000Z
- Description: DERRY - The Dover High School girls volleyball team has had a knack for making quick turnarounds this season, thanks to its ability to move on to the next point. In Tuesday's Division I semifinal against Portsmouth, the Green Wave needed to keep that focus all night. After winning the first set, No.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Dover, girls volleyball, playoffs, Portsmouth, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

DERRY - The Dover High School girls volleyball team has had a knack for making quick turnarounds this season, thanks to its ability to move on to the next point.

In Tuesday's Division I semifinal against Portsmouth, the Green Wave needed to keep that focus all night.

After winning the first set, No. 6 Dover found itself trailing most of the match against the No. 7 Clippers, but found ways to rally for wins in the third and fifth set to beat Portsmouth 3-2 at Pinkerton Academy. Game scores were 25-19, 19-25, 26-24, 22-25 and 15-12.

"They’ve done that a lot this year," Dover coach Whitney Carrier said. "Our mantra has been next play. The last one, we can’t do anything about it, so we need to look at the next one. I think that’s gotten us through some adversity."

The Green Wave (16-5) led almost throughout Game 1, but in the final four games, Dover had a lead for just 24 total points, including the final 13 of the fifth set. Portsmouth (15-6) was in control in the third game, until the Green Wave tied it at 23 and then won three of the final four points.

And in the final game, the Clippers got out to a 7-5 lead before Dover went on an 8-0, behind the serving of Rachel Vitko, to take control.

"It was just a mental thing, telling myself that we needed this to win, so I did it," Vitko said. "It’s a lot easier when you tell yourself that you can. It was crucial to make it to the championship, but it was all in our heads."

Vitko finished 12 kills and 14 digs while Kyra Cantwell recorded nine kills, 21 assists and 20 digs and Katy Cantwell added eight kills, four assists, five digs and four blocks. Mia Whitehead had 11 kills and nine digs and Morgan Raineri added seven kills.

"They’ve really been working on that chemistry as a team, all season," Carrier said. "Especially in the postseason, the fact they’ve played together for so long, it just helps them realize they can do this. They’re always trying to be positive on the court."

Dover needed that positive attitude a lot Tuesday. After winning the first set and getting out to a 4-0 lead to start the second, Portsmouth came roaring back, winning eight of the next nine points to lead 8-5\. The Green Wave kept it close, but Alexa Stevens went on a 6-0 service run and the Clippers went up 22-16 on the way to evening the match.

Portsmouth's run continued into the third set, with Stevens serving again, as the Clippers went up 6-1 and forced Dover to take a timeout. The lead stayed around five points until the Green Wave started to chip away late.

A pair of kills by Whitehead made it 19-18 Portsmouth, but the Clippers went back up 23-18\. With Sierra Castonguay serving, Dover won six straight points to take its first lead, 24-23, before closing out an improbably win.

"We knew it would be close and they were going to fight to go to the championship," Vitko said. "And they just beat an undefeated team (Hollis Brookline in the quarterfinals), which gives them even more confidence, so we knew we had to step up."

While Portsmouth took the lead in the fourth set, Dover kept it close, staying within three points before tying it up at 15\. A kill by Corinne Lamond broke the tie and started the Clippers on a 5-1 run that gave Portsmouth it's biggest lead in Game 4\. The Green Wave were able to get within two points, but the Clippers closed it out to force a fifth game.

"There was definitely frustration," Vitko said. "We were disappointed in ourselves, because we knew we could have won that, but we just got it together. It’s 0-0 now, we need to focus on winning."

Carrier told the team in between games to get back to focusing on what it can control.

"We’ve got to play one point at a time and not look ahead to the end," the coach said. "Make sure we’re just focused on the point we’re playing in. As long as we play our volleyball and don’t worry about what they’re doing on the other side, it’s going to be easy for us. Play our game, earn every point, and we’ll win."

And now Dover will play in the D1 final for the first time since winning it in 2013, where the Green Wave will play No. 1 Nashua South at 7 p.m Saturday at Pinkerton.