NASHUA, N.H. – Three times Chris Homsey stood on the service line with a chance to win a set for Salem High volleyball on Tuesday night.
Check.
Check.
Check mate.
The Blue Devils, top-seeded and undefeated, plowed through No. 4 Londonderry High in the Division I state semifinals, 25-23, 25-14 and 25-24, to claim a spot in Saturday’s title game.
Saturday (4 p.m.) back here at Nashua North, the Blue Devils go for the perfect season against No. 2 Coe-Brown. It’s Salem’s first boys volleyball state championship game since the program’s last title in 2019.
“It’s just amazing. I’m speechless right now to be honest,” said Salem coach Dan Rousseau. “I’m still taking it all in right now. It’s pure bliss. These kids have worked so hard for it. I’m ecstatic.”
While Salem played a rock-solid team game, the difference in this one was the man in the middle, 6-foot-6 Tristan Witenko.
In the first, he cranked it up with Londonderry thinking upset. In the second, he stunned the packed house with a crucial “first-time ever” reverse dunk for a kill and in the third, with the Lancers thinking miracle, he ended things in style.
“Just attacking, staying aggressive,” said the senior, who is in his first year of playing volleyball. “When we played them the last time, it was in my first month. I think I have improved.”
His coach would certainly concur.
“It’s his first year playing, and he has just come the longest way. Such a good kid. He’s an athlete, and he’s made the biggest impact on this team,” said Rousseau, whose club moved to 18-0. “He has the build for volleyball. I think halfway through the season it just clicked for him. He just started going off. At this point, it’s nothing out of the norm to see him do what he did tonight.”
Leading 20-17 in the first behind some fine all-around play by Jack Marconi, it felt like business as usual for the Blue Devils.
Not so fast.
A Lancer timeout to regroup sparked a 6-0 run and had the upstart No. 4 seed thinking early knockout.
But at 22-20 Londonderry, Salem showed its class and fed the beast, Witenko in the middle. The big fella had one stuff and one kill to help even things at 23-23.
Homsey then served out the set at 25-23 for the 1-0 lead.
Homsey and Christian Cruz, getting it done at the service line, helped put Salem on an 11-4 lead to start the second.
From there, it was all gas, no brake.
Witenko had a dynamite reverse (back to the net) kill, Marconi had an ace and Jake Delano got into the act, dropping a hammer of his own to make it 22-12 in the decisive run. Jake Sarsfield’s well-placed dink took Londonderry’s last gasp and Homsey again served out the set at 25-14.
Salem spent much of the third on its heels, trailing 18-13, before slowly chipping away.
Marconi was massive. Homsey simply wouldn’t let the ball hit the floor. Cruz loomed large. Sarsfield and Delano delivered. And Witenko had the exclamation point.