Windham girls volleyball rallies to beat Milford

MILFORD – When faced with adversity Monday, the Windham High School girls volleyball team managed to battle back against Milford.

It didn’t happen the way the Jaguars and coach Jill Bartlett might have liked, but it was enough for Windham to rally from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to beat the Spartans 3-2 in a Division II matchup. Game scores were 21-25, 25-10, 22-25, 25-19 and 15-7.

“We definitely had our ups and downs,” Bartlett said. “I think they played as consistent as they can. We had a ton of service errors. The girls really, when we challenged them, became focused and zeroed in on what we asked of them.”

Windham bounced back from a rough first game that saw the Jaguars (5-0) make repeated errors as they struggled against unfamiliar strategies to take a commanding win in the second game. But any momentum from that win evaporated quickly as the Spartans (3-2) fed off the home crowd and took the third game.

In the final two games, seniors Lexie Sawyer and Casey Dinga stepped up and put the Jaguars on their backs. Sawyer finished with 15 kills, 12 digs and four aces, while Dinga had eight kills, six aces and a block.

Taylor Sawyer added 10 digs, eight kills and four aces while Kacie Flahive had 35 digs and three aces and Taylor Dufield had 40 assists.

“Lexie was able to take over because our defense was doing what it needed to,” Bartlett said. “Our passes were finally getting to where we wanted them. That allowed the setter to be able to do her job and give it to the offense. Lexie is very talented and she’s swinging great, and so is Casey, so is Taylor, so is Nina (Berni), so is Marla (Batson). They’re all swinging great when they have the set, and our defense needed to step up. That was the big difference.”

Milford got four aces, three kills and a block from Gabriella Monico while Emily Flaherty had eight assists, four aces and a kill and Julia Mrozek had two kills and two blocks.

“I thought they played awesome,” Milford coach Beth Solan said. “I couldn’t have asked them to do much more than what they did out there. We went up against a team that hadn’t lost a set all year and took them to five. We fought for every inch of it and that’s all you can ask for at this point when they are so young.”

With that inexperience in mind, Solan had the Spartans hanging back from the net, making sure to get the ball over and forcing Windham to not make mistakes. Early on, that strategy worked well for Milford.

“I have a couple strong hitters, but I have some developing hitters, too,” Solan said. “When we can make the digs and keep it in play, let them make mistakes, that works for us right now until we can develop our hitters into powerhouses.”

It worked in the first and third games, but in the second, Milford struggled with serve-receive and the Jaguars took advantage. Dinga had a stretch of 10 straight service points, including five aces, to turn a 3-2 Milford lead into an 11-3 lead for Windham

After the Spartans picked up a point, Sawyer went on a run of her own, serving five in a row to put Windham up 16-4.

“Commanding win, and that’s the what we should be doing, and then to drop the (third) game, it was like ‘come on,’ ” Bartlett said. “(The Spartans) were almost content that if a ball dropped, it dropped. Milford had great momentum, capitalizing in dips in our performance.

“We changed things up as coaching staff and moved things around, and for them, responding well. Some of the strategies they played against us, we had not yet seen this season, so for us to make that adjustment, it took time.”

Milford trailed early in the third game, but Flaherty had a serving run of her own, helping the Spartans win six straight points to go up 18-14. Windham answered to take a 20-19 lead, but Milford won six of the final eight points to take the game 25-22.

Windham took control of the fourth game, getting out to a 16-9 lead, before Milford crept back into it, cutting the lead to 18-15. But the Jaguars were able to stay ahead and get the win to force a fifth game.

The Spartans kept it close early in the final game, getting within 6-5, but Windham was able to stretch the lead to 11-6 before closing it out.

The teams will play again on Oct. 3 at Windham.