DERRY, N.H. – Pinkerton Academy has not only a history of winning, but come time for raising the championship trophy as N.H.’s best, the regional school is among the best of the best the last four decades.
That is also the time girls volleyball started at Pinkerton and while close a few times – a year ago they lost in state final to undefeated Bedford – there are no state title banners.
That changed Saturday on their home floor, which hosted all of the state volleyball championships.
The Astros girls were every bit as dominant as any state champion from the school.
Losing only 10 games over 21 matches since the season opened in early September, they finished the job with a resounding 3-0 win over No. 6 seeded Dover.
The scores were emblematic of not only the day – 25-19, 25-18 and 25-9 – but the dominant season.
Dover led the first game, 2-0. And never led again.
“That’s what we’ve done all year, put pressure on other teams,” said Pinkerton coach Todd Royce. “It’s a special group on and off the court. They really wanted it from the first practice, really every practice. It made our job as coaches so much better.”
Pinkerton’s senior contingent, led by state’s top net player, Aaliyah Price Gooden, headed for Div. 1 Bentley University in the fall, Dover couldn’t keep up with the Astros other power players up front.
In fact, the 6-foot-2 Gooden, the state’s No. 3 all-time leader with 240 kills, keyed Pinkerton’s early dominance in Game 1 with five kills and three blocks for points.
Dover ended up keeping away from Gooden the rest of the day, but it didn’t matter, with senior Madison Andrade and junior Taylor Nastasi, both 5-foot-9, each getting seven kills apiece.
Pinkerton also had twice as many service aces while Dover had double the amount of service faults.
“You can’t do that against a team that good,” said Dover coach Whitney Carrier, whose team beat the No. 3 seed (Bishop Guertin) and No. 2 seed (Londonderry) before running into the fall of 2025’s juggernaut.
“We had played so well before this, but not today,” said Carrier. “You have to give them the credit. They’re tough. They keep coming after you.”
While Dover hung around the first two games getting it to 14-10 in the first game and then 22-18 in the second game, only to see the Astros pull away, the third game was never close.
Pinkerton jumped out 5-0, 8-1 and 14-5 before ending at the net with a kill (Andrade) and block (6-1 sophomore Liv Townsend) on the last two points.
While five seniors, all regulars, will be leaving, Saturday’s top server was freshman Elle Piascik led everyone with 11 aces.
“This year’s group was special because we were like a family,” said Andrade, who will play volleyball at Plymouth St., next fall. “We had a sense of community, where we always had each other’s back. I’ve never been on a team like this.”
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.