Gilford girls volleyball beats Coe-Brown in D2 championship

DERRY — Death. Taxes. Gilford High School girls volleyball.

Since making their first state final in 1991, the Golden Eagles have played in the season’s last game 21 times and racked up 15 state championships.

Saturday was trophy number 16 as the undefeated Golden Eagles took down sixth-seeded Coe Brown 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 25-8, 25-23) at Hackler Gymnasium at Pinkerton Academy. Gilford (19-0) earned the victory on the back of a diverse offensive attack and capitalizing on unforced errors by the Bears (13-6).

Never was that more important than the finishing stretch of the fourth game. Gilford trailed 17-11 and finished the game with an emphatic 14-6 run, capped by an ace from junior Lindsey Sanderson.

“Obviously, we had good composure when we came out for the third game,” Gilford coach Amy Tripp said. “We’re very conditioned. I feel like when we needed to jump high and hit hard we were able to do that because we had good conditioning. We pride ourselves on working hard throughout the whole season.”

Sanderson, along with senior Abigail Warren, each had seven kills for the Golden Eagles. Warren also had 10 digs and a pair of aces. Gilford’s setters, Naomi Eldrigde and Riley Mcdonough, each had 11 assists while Mcdonough also had four kills, five digs and an ace.

“Our setters were awesome,” Gilford senior Abigail O’Connor said. “They don’t get enough credit for what they do. They make us look good.”

Senior libero Samantha Holland had 22 digs. O’Connor made her presence known at the net with four blocks.

The first game, and especially the third game, were thoroughly dominated by the Golden Eagles. They were able to pass with precision and swing with pace. In the third game, Gilford scored 10 straight points to open up a 15-point lead.

“I think our serves started to be more controlled,” O’Connor said. “They weren’t picking them up. We started to finally hit hard and put things down. I think we used the energy from the crowd, and it definitely helped us.”

Coe-Brown had its moment in the second set. The Bears led wire to wire to take the game. It was just the eighth set lost by the Golden Eagles this season.

Coe-Brown was led by Abby Jerome. The senior had seven kills for the Bears. Kaitlyn Miller had 13 assists and three aces.

The championship match appearance was just Coe-Brown’s second in its history. The other was in 2013 when it defeated Windham for the Division II title.

The title was Gilford’s second in a row and continued its long history of success. Since winning their first title, the 1995 Class M-S crown over Sunapee, the Golden Eagles haven’t gone more than four years without a title victory.

“It’s a system,” Tripp said. “It’s tradition. It’s doing the things we do well, well, and also changing it up to be efficient each year. I try to tweak it for the players that I have. It’s a culture. The girls come in and know what they have to do.”