Hollis Brookline girls volleyball locked in, getting ready for D1 tournament

When a team hits a rough patch in a season, it's not unusual for the captains or coaches to pull everyone together to talk about how to get things headed in the right direction.

Sometimes that talk comes after a string of losses, or games that maybe weren't up to the standard.

For the Hollis Brookline High School girls volleyball team, it came after a win.

The Cavaliers have navigated perfectly through the first 14 matches of the Division I season, sitting alone at the top of the standings with an undefeated record, and they've gotten there by winning 42 of 43 sets in those matches. The lone loss came in the first game of a 3-1 win over Bishop Guertin on Sept. 25, and the Cardinals came close to getting another in the fourth game.

That was enough for the HB captains to gather everyone together, just to make sure the Cavs were all on the same page.

"We talked about, after the BG game, and we lost that set, the captains had a meeting and we talked to the team about how it’s not going to be easy," HB junior Maddie Norris said. "Winning is not something you can take easily. We have to put in a lot of work and effort."

Norris knows that first hand, having been a starter on the Cavs' back-to-back championship teams in the two previous seasons. While there is a solid core back from those two title teams, HB is also relying on a few newcomers who don't have quite as much varsity experience, but they were able to pick up a taste of what the playoffs will be like on Monday.

HB used the day off school to participate in the International Volleyball Hall of Fame's VolleyHall Classic, a out-of-state tournament held in Springfield, Mass. The Cavs went through two pool play rounds, with each match just two sets, and finished 4-0-1, getting the No. 1 seed into the gold rounds, where each match was just one set.

The Cavs beat Southington, Conn., in the semifinals 25-9 and came up short against Barnstable, Mass., in the final 25-22. It was the first time a team from New Hampshire had ever made the gold final of the tournament.

"That’s why we go there," HB coach Becky Balfour said. "We want that. That’s what the (Division I) tournament feels like. How can we kick it up another notch? They did amazing."

The momentum from Monday's tournament carried into HB's 3-0 win over Nashua South on Wednesday, and the Cavs hope they can continue it against Salem (11-2) on Friday. A win there would give HB a good shot at an undefeated regular season and the No. 1 seed in D1.

"I feel like we have really good momentum right now and we just need to keep pushing through," Norris said. "I feel like this year we have strong leadership. Kyra (Belden) and I, Kenzie (Whalen), we have to show as a captain that we are that leader, bringing the team together, cheering every point no matter what."