Safe to say that both the Newburyport and North Reading volleyball teams are evenly matched this year.
During Wednesday’s rematch between the two, they needed five close sets before the Clippers were ultimately able to come away with the hard-fought, back-and-forth victory, 3-2. The Clippers won the first set 25-17, each team would then trade 26-24 victories, then the Hornets would take the fourth set, 25-22, to even up the match. It all set up a decisive fifth set, which the Clippers (6-3) were able to regroup and win, 15-11.
And it’s a victory that avenges their 3-1 loss to the Hornets earlier in the year.
Gabby Vigeant had a phenomenal game for the winners with 19 kills and 4 aces, and fellow junior Ava Bailey added 5 kills and 5 blocks. The Clippers will next travel to a non-league matchup at Bishop Fenwick on Friday evening.
Basile, Triton win five-set marathon over Georgetown
There was a second local CAL volleyball match that needed five sets to decide on Wednesday night.
A few exits down on I-95, Triton was able to pull off the 3-2 marathon victory at Georgetown. Captains Olivia Hughes, Emily McManus and the host Royals (2-6) won a monster 30-28 first set, then dug deep yet again to win another overtime third set, 28-26. But the Vikings won both the second and fourth sets by the same 25-19 score, then held on to take the fifth set — and the overall match — 15-10.
Overall it was a much-needed victory for Triton (2-4), which had dropped its previous four matches. Olivia Basile had a big game for the Vikings with 19 assists, and elsewhere Aubrey Jodz had 8 kills, Ava Martin had 7 kills, Janey LeBlanc provided 10 digs and Jayleen Lorenzo sent in 8 aces.
Bub, Gallant help Pentucket field hockey shut out Amesbury
After two tough setbacks in a row, this was exactly what the Pentucket field hockey team needed.
Back at home on Wednesday afternoon, the Panthers got a great performance in the cage from senior captain and goalie Hannah Bub to shut out visiting Amesbury, 3-0. Ava Lucius scored in the first quarter for the Panthers (2-5-1), before the team’s other senior co-captain, Morgan Gallant, iced the game with two goals in the fourth.
Captains Gabi Peixoto and Hope Shanahan put in another great effort for Amesbury (0-7), which will look to get into the win column when it hosts Hamilton-Wenham on Monday.