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Raiders knock Warriors from unbeaten

Tuesday, October, 11 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — For the first time all season, senior standout Hunter Tuck did not lead the Central Catholic volleyball team in kills last night against archrival Andover, finishing with the fourth highest total on the team.
Not a good thing, right?
Wrong! Showing unusual depth at the net, and all over the court, the Raiders (9-3) handed the previously unbeaten Golden Warriors (9-1) their first regular season loss in two years, 3-1.
Andover entered the game without the services of standout senior Ava Bakhtari, who tore her ACL last week, but things evened out quickly when Raider starting middle hitter Mary Foggo turned an ankle early in the first game and was lost for the rest of the evening.
“It’s tough to lose one of your best players but we have the players to replace anyone,” said Tuck. “We have a lot of confidence in anyone who comes in.”
Replacing Foggo was sophomore Amanda Williams and she responded with seven kills and a team-high four blocks and, along with Alex Borrelli (team-high 14 kills), Steph Graffeo (9 kills) and Tuck (5 kills), gave the Raiders plenty of options up front.
Williams looked comfortable from the start and Central stormed to a 25-15 victory in the first game. But Andover rallied in the second game behind underrated junior Elizabeth Wait (team-high 15 kills) and Eagle-Tribune All-Star Sarah Arvidson (13 kills) to tie up the match with a 25-15 win of its own.
Central responded in the third game, thanks to five straight service points late in the game by Tuck and two key points by Borrelli, to prevail 25-21, setting up a wild third game that the Raiders — showing some outstanding defense led by junior Michelle Bouchard — eventually pulled out, 30-28, for the victory.
“This is just a really big win for us,” said Central coach Gannon Paris. “The MVC title is basically on the line and we want to show that we’re up there with them. They swept us three times and you have to beat them if you want to be considered one of the best.
“This was really satisfying. We played well as a team but I can’t say enough about the job Amanda Williams did coming in. I think this team is as deep as any I’ve had and she was a prime example.”
Andover coach George Sullivan, while proud of the his team’s effort, said: “Without question, we missed Ava and we’re going to need a couple of more girls step up. We need to be more consistent ... we end the (regular) season with them, so we’ll see how we do then.”
Elise Brogan played strong at the net in the final game for Andover and led the team with 3 1/2 blocks. Lauren Murtagh was high in both assists (21) and service points (17).