RallyNorth.net

BILLERICA — Thanks to a remarkable comeback in last night’s Division 1 state volleyball semifinals, Central Catholic senior Alex Borrelli was feeling a delightful sense of deja vu.
“This is awesome, the greatest feeling ever,” said Borrelli. “I went to the state finals in basketball as a freshman and this is the same kind of feeling.”
It was a new feeling for most of the rest of the Raiders (21-2), but they were feeling just as good after they rallied from a two-game hole to defeat perennial power Lincoln-Sudbury, 3-2.
As a result, Central Catholic advances to Saturday’s 5 p.m. state finals at Algonquin High School against the winner of tonight’s Brookline-Barnstable matchup. Barnstable is the defending Division 1 state champ.
Early on last night, it looked unlikely that Central would punch a ticket to the finals. It dropped the first game 25-22 and didn’t look particularly good in the loss, serving four balls into the net and making a rash of unforced errors.
“I guess we were a little flat, but I thought we played more of our game after that,” said Borrelli, who led Central with 19 kills on the night.
Actually, the Raiders didn’t look much better early in the second game, either, trailing 10-6 before finally gaining some momentum. Borrelli started to heat up and senior Hunter Tuck (18 kills) got into a rhythm. Central eventually lost a donnybrook, 33-31, but that may have helped turn the corner.
“Even though we didn’t win that game, I thought it gave us the confidence to stick with what we do well,” said Central coach Gannon Paris. “The kids did a great job of sticking together when it didn’t look too good for us.
“In the first game, we were trying to do a little too much, hit too hard, try to be too cute. This is as big as anything as these girls have been involved with and it was kind of a new experience for them. Alexis (Michal) is the only one who was with us as a freshman. But after we broke it down and went back to playing like we can, we were all right.”
In fact, the Raiders seemed to get better the longer the match went on. While Borrelli was fairly consistent throughout, Tuck, Stephanie Graffeo (13 kills) and sophomore Amanda Williams got more involved with every point, leading to a 25-21 survival victory in the third game and a convincing 25-19 triumph in the fourth game, which Tuck closed out with a pair of kills.
The deciding fifth game was tension-filled and back and forth. But, trailing 12-11, the Raiders tied it on a Borrelli kill and then forced three Lincoln-Sudbury errors to grab the 15-12 victory and start looking ahead to Saturday.
Playing a large role in the triumph was Michal, who had an astounding 56 assists, a number that Paris believes “must be a school record,” as well as serving 13 points. Michelle Bouchard was also a force from the back line with four aces among her 13 points and Britni Spring placed superb defense and contributed several key service points as well.
“I can’t say enough about the whole team,” said Paris. “It’s a collective effort. We’re going to enjoy this.”
For Lincoln-Sudbury (19-3), junior Mandy Sifferlen was a force at the net as was Kelly White, one of only two seniors on the team. The Warriors had graduated six seniors from last year’s 22-2 squad that was the fourth L-S team in five years to reach the state finals.
“Central was the better team tonight, but we’ll be back,” said Lincoln-Sudbury coach Judy Katalina.

Central Catholic 3, Lincoln-Sudbury 2
Division 1 semifinals
at Billerica High
Kills: CC — Alex Borrelli 19, Hunter Tuck 18, Stephanie Graffeo 13; L-S — Mandy Sifferlen 18
Blocks: CC — Amanda Williams 4
Assists: CC — Alexis Michal 56
Service points (aces): CC — Michal 13, Michelle Bouchard 13 (4)
Digs: CC — Michelle Bouchard 30
Lincoln/Sudbury (19-3): 25 33 21 19 12 — 2
Central Catholic (21-2): 22 31 25 25 15 — 3