WEST NEWBURY — This fall, it’s felt like the hits have just kept on coming for the Pentucket volleyball team.
We already knew that the Panthers were coming into the season already down 10 key seniors from last year’s historic squad, which won the most games in program history (13), made the playoffs for the first time ever, and won the program’s first ever postseason match. But what nobody could have predicted is that over the course of the past six weeks, the Panthers have lost two major seniors to injury in Carly Foley and Tey Turner, along with starting junior outside Emma Burkinshaw and sophomore middle Naya Carvalho.
Well, you would think all of that would be too much to overcome, right?
Yeah … no.
Following a 3-1 victory over rival Triton while celebrating its Senior Night on Thursday (25-16, 25-17, 22-25, 25-11), Pentucket is now back at .500 for the season and very much in the Division 3 playoff field. The Panthers (8-8) won’t be entering the postseason with as many wins as a year ago, but when Friday morning’s latest MIAA rankings came out, they found themselves at No. 18 and only 0.5 percentage points back from actually hosting a first round game. Foley, Turner and the team’s other two seniors — Alanna Cepeda and Amelia Crowe — have kept the team in most every match, and got to celebrate their Senior Night with a much-deserved victory.
They were also the first class that coach Kelly Lyons — now in her fourth year rising Pentucket up from the basement of the CAL — had when she took over.
“Carly played as an eighth-grader, but yes they are technically my first group,” said Lyons. “It has been nice to see their growth and maturity. I wish we had Amelia her freshman year, that would have been a positive addition, obviously. She’s just so athletic. But it’s been nice to see them come together for each other this year.”
And both the present and the future appear to be in good hands.
Thursday night, of course both Crowe as a middle hitter and Cepeda as a defensive specialist helped Pentucket jump out to a quick 2-0 lead with 25-16 and 25-17 set victories. But junior Devyn Walsh and her younger sister, freshmen Fiona, have been staples at the net, as have junior Genevieve D’Angelo, sophomore Adeline Carll and freshmen Sienna Duchemin. Fellow junior Ellie DeRosa has been a revelation at libero alongside Cepeda, and Michaela Gabardi has also been strong in the back row.
And with their current ranking, the Panthers are hoping to make a little noise in the upcoming playoffs.
“I think we can do well,” said Lyons. “We’ll do our best.”
But a scrappy Triton team wasn’t going to let a 3-0 sweep slide.
The Vikings (2-10) have dropped a handful of games in a row, but they’ve been competitive in all of them. Senior track star Colleen Johnson has really taken to volleyball this year, and on Thursday she had an excellent all-around game with 7 kills and 4 blocks from her middle hitter position. Fellow senior setter Olivia Basile had 17 assists, which led to Aubrey Jodz, Abby Richard and Emma D’Andrea sending down 5 kills each.
But the Vikings definitely have a building block for the future in libero Janey LaBlanc. The junior was all over the court on Thursday, and served across 4 aces while making 7 digs to help the Vikings win the third set, 25-22.
“We’ve been improving,” said Triton coach Bob Van Etten. “Our middle that came in tonight, Emma D’Andrea, she’s been getting closer and closer and closer. So I’ve been trying to give her one set each time we play, and she’s played so well so I’ve left her in. Then when Janey is on serving, she’s devastating. Lately she’s been getting a little more inconsistent, but when she’s locked in, she’s incredible.”
In the fourth set, though, Pentucket didn’t mess around.
The Panthers jumped out to a 9-0 lead, and had no issue cruising to a 25-11 set victory and the overall 3-1 match win. And now it’s really getting to be cruch time for the Vikings, who are currently the first team out of the Division 4 field at No. 33, and have four matches left to get into the playoffs.
“We just have to play competitive from here on out,” said Van Etten. “They’re playing better each time. You can see it’s still a little inconsistent, but they’re getting better each time we play.”