Tuesday evening, the MHS volleyball team swept Burlington in straight sets: 25-21, 25-23, 25-15.
The Current was at the game … here’s the moment Marblehead won.
“The game [against Burlington] on September 19 left a sour taste in our mouth,” said Marblehead head coach Killeen Miller. “When we saw where the state tournament bracket was lining up, it was awesome to see them back. Our kids today, after warmups, were like ‘We’ve got this.’ That was a big deal to us.”
The Magicians stumbled out of the blocks in the games opening set. Out of Burlington’s first ten points, seven were scored on errors by Marblehead, including four missed serves. After taking an early timeout down 13-8, the Magician offense clicked into gear, cutting the deficit to two points.
With the margin reduced to 17-14, the ball would end up in the hands of Northeastern Conference MVP, Greta Sachs. Sachs put away back-to-back aces to tie the set at 17-all before her co-captain, Mari Modrzynska, fired home a kill to give the hosts the lead and force Burlington to call a timeout. The Red Devils would charge back to tie the game at 21, but a strong serving streak from Sammy Walker and a sixth Modrzynska kill would give the hosts the opening set, 25-21.
In the second set, victory would be determined based on which team could simply outlast their opponent as the lead swung back and forth six times. Marblehead would jump out to a three point lead early, but a series of errors would see their advantage evaporate, dropping eight of the next 11 points.
A Marblehead timeout midway through the set failed to bring about an immediate solution, with Burlington jumping out to a four point lead, the largest lead of the set for either team. With their backs against the wall, the Magicians rode a 5-2 run to get within a point of tying the set and make Burlington burn a timeout.
Marblehead returned to the lead after the timeout, but Burlington stayed on the Magicians’ tails, tying the set twice more before a pair of kills by Lila Moniz and Sachs completed a second come-from-behind set victory, 25-23.
Although forced to contend with rough seas in the first two sets, the third was a pleasure cruise for the Headers.
After Burlington took a 3-2 advantage early in the set, the Magicians would find their way back to the lead just two points later and would not relinquish it for the remainder of the match.
With a frenzied student section bringing the energy, Marblehead put on a clinic on both sides of the ball, racking up kills on seemingly every playable ball and digging out many dangerous Burlington attacks.
Sachs ended any doubt of a Marblehead triumph with an almost nonchalant kill against a backed up Burlington defense to put the Magicians up 20-14.
The attacking line put the finishing touches on the match, with senior captain, Isabella Browning, launching the final blow to give Marblehead a 25-15 set victory and a 3-0 sweep of Burlington to advance to the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
Key contributors to Marblehead’s win were outside hitter Lila Moniz, who led Marblehead with a double-double, recording 11 kills and making 10 digs, and setter Eva Burke lined up 27 assists and contributed nine digs of her own.
Marblehead will make the long westward journey to face the third-seeded Longmeadow Lancers on Friday at 5 p.m.. to fight for a place in the state semifinals.The Current interviewed players and Coach Killeen Miller after the big victory.
Up next: Marblehead will travel to Longmeadow later this week for their Round of 8 matchup. Date and time TBD. Stay with the Current.
