Salem girls volleyball battles back to top Hollis Brookline

HOLLIS – When the Salem High School girls volleyball team huddled before Game 5 of Wednesday night’s match at Hollis Brookline, coach John Roemer had a simple statement for his players.

After losing the first two games, the Blue Devils had battled back to force the tiebreaker. Why not go out and win it?

Salem did just that, although it needed to rally again to do so, and defeated the Cavaliers 3-2 in a Division I match. Game scores were 21-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21 and 15-12.

“All we talked about was believing in what we do,” Roemer said. “We already battled back two games, why lose a third? We’re here and we have them on the ropes. Put the pedal down, give nothing up and play as hard as you can. We had to come back again.”

Salem (6-1) got out to an 11-6 lead in the fifth game, but HB (3-3) rallied to go up 12-11 before the Blue Devils won the final four points to take the match.

The loss was frustrating for the Cavs, especially since they led for most of Games 3 and 4, but coach Becky Balfour was encouraged as the team’s improved play from last Friday’s loss to Goffstown.

“When we played (Goffstown), we gave them half their points on service and hitting errors,” she said “We didn’t make nearly as many mistakes (against Salem). We battled them and I don’t feel like we tossed in the towel. We played much more aggressively. If we can continue to play like this, I just see us getting better and better.”

Amanda Bickford led the way for Salem, recording 11 kills, 18 digs and three aces, while Alyssa Kolbert had 12 kills and Olivia Bruke had seven blocks. Rachel Towler added 37 assists, as the defending division champions took what Roemer felt was another step forward.

“We’ve got a lot of people in new positions, so they haven’t had that chance to bond yet, so that was good for them,” he said. “It’s kind of like that growing up phase right now.

“We came out very tentative, and then we started getting momentum and stopped making mistakes. Once we got over that and realized we had to play aggressive, they really started picking up the game and started passing and playing as a team.”

HB got a solid all-around game from Savannah Weren, who had 12 kills and eight aces. Maddy Blake added seven kills and Kristin Johnson had four.

“I hope it motivates them,” Balfour said. “These guys won Division I last year. We knew it was going to be a great match. We were very positive at the end. We were down a lot in that fifth game, to battle back and tie it up, we were right there. It just slipped.”