UPTON — It was everything a volleyball match was supposed to be.
Thursday night two fantastic teams went back and forth , with players diving all over the floor, making incredible digs, saves, and competing with the utmost of passion and emotions.
When it was finally over, No. 3 seed Nipmuc Regional prevailed over an incredibly gutsy No. 6 seed Greater Lawrence, 3-1 — 25-15, 25-21, 23-25, 26-24 — in the Div. 4 quarterfinal.
The loss ended a marvelous run for the Reggies, finishing with a 17-6 overall record, including the State Vocational Championship and two previous state tournament wins against No. 27 Northeast Voc (3-0) and No. 11 Cohasset (3-1).
This marked the furthest the Reggies program has advanced since reaching the Div. 2 North Sectional quarterfinals under the old MIAA format back in 2008.
The first set was tight until the Warriors pulled away late.
The next three sets were nip-and-tuck with neither team leading by more than four points.
Nipmuc barely took the second set, but the Reggies wouldn’t go away in the third set. Trailing 13-10, sophomore Trinity Figueroa got the momentum going with a kill and that followed with seven straight service points by Ambar Munoz, which led to Greater Lawrence winning the set 25-23.
The fourth set also went back and forth, with Greater Lawrence holding leads of 15-13, 17-15 and 20-18, before the Warriors stormed back to win it by two.
Munoz led the way with 13 service points, followed by IIaisha Taveras with nine and Mia Reynoso with six. Maria Reynoso finished with ten kills, six service points, including three aces. Figueroa also had a strong game with eight kills and four blocks.
Defensively, the Reggies played incredible from start to finish, led by Reynoso.
“I’m absolutely proud of these girls,” said Reggies’ head coach Karla Mahoney. “They went further than we did last year. We had high hopes of going all the way, which this group felt like they could have done it. They are already hungry for next year. Watch out people because we’re going for it.”
Mahoney said that she didn’t want to comment about the match but did say that, “(Nipmuc) played better than the scouting report. Emotions came into tonight and we had to push through it. We lost a couple of leads that we had and it is what it is.”