Hollis Brookline girls volleyball knocks off Merrimack
After a tough week of matches, Becky Balfour felt her Hollis Brookline High School girls volleyball was heading in the right direction.
MERRIMACK – After a tough week of matches, Becky Balfour felt her Hollis Brookline High School girls volleyball was heading in the right direction.
The Cavaliers proved their coach right on Monday, turning in a convincing 3-1 win over Merrimack in Division I action. Game scores were 25-18, 25-11, 18-25 and 25-21.
“This was huge for us,” Balfour said. “Merrimack is a phenomenal team. We went to five with them last year, both in the regular season and the semifinals, so we know it’s going to be a great match.
“I’m thrilled. We’ve had a string of really strong opponents lately who have given us some challenges, so having a win like this on the road is really big.”
HB (9-3) went 1-2 in three matches last week, which included two four-game losses to Bishop Guertin and Concord where the Cavs won the first game before dropping the next three. After taking a 1-0 lead in sets against the Tomahawks (8-4), HB was dominant in the second game, winning 13 of the final 14 points.
Elizabeth Atkinson had 13 kills and four blocks for HB and Maddie Norris also had 13 kills. Hannah Balfour had 40 assists and six aces, and Sammie Sheppard added 13 digs.
Merrimack got 17 kills, six blocks and five digs from Elise Jolly, while Jordyn Boyce had 15 digs, two kills and a block. Joanne Bonner added six digs, three kills and three blocks and Brianne Nordengren had three kills and three blocks.
But the Tomahawks were plagued by inconsistency throughout the first two games.
“It was very inconsistent,” Merrimack coach Tammy Lambrou said. “We were waiting for the other team to make mistakes as opposed to getting our points. That hurt us. We struggled on serve receive and that hurt us.”
After winning the first two games, the Cavs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game 3 before Merrimack was able to come back and tie it 7-7. With Jolly serving, the Tomahawks won seven straight points to take a 13-7 lead, and then stretched that to 19-10.
HB was able to get within five, but Merrimack had enough to hang on and force a fourth game. The Cavs jumped out to a 4-0 lead again in Game 4, but the Tomahawks were able to cut the lead to one twice, making it 14-13 before HB pulled away again.
The Cavs won nine of 10 points to go up 23-14 before Merrimack was able to close the gap.
“We just kept going after them,” Balfour said. “When we stay on point with our game plan, wonderful things happen. We’ve got such a young group. At any given time, four of the six on the floor are freshmen and sophomores. It’s nice to see the veterans leading and it’s nice to see the young girls stepping up in a big match.”
