RallyNorth.net

Andover sweeps North Andover

Thursday, November, 10 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

ANDOVER — More of the same!
That’s what the Andover girls volleyball team will be looking for tomorrow night (6 p.m. at Lawrence High) when it faces Central Catholic for the third time this year, this time in the Division 1 North championship.
If the Golden Warriors can just play like they did last night while sweeping North Andover 25-13, 25-12 and 25-18 in the semifinals, they’ll do just fine according to veteran head coach George Sullivan.
“We played very well tonight,” said Sullivan. “If we can carry this over, we’ll be right there with them (Central). We’re playing much better now than we were, but we need to just go out there and play without thinking about it.”
Sullivan will certainly be looking for more of the same from 5-foot-11 senior hitter Elise Brogan, who led the Warriors (20-2) last night with 15 kills and five blocks and was particularly immense in the opening game. She has needed to take on a bigger role since co-captain Ava Bakhtyari got injured in the eighth game of the season.
“It took us awhile after Ava got hurt to figure out what we had to do, but now I think we have a system down,” said Brogan. “We just have to block and play better defense against them (Central),”
Brogan had plenty of help against the Knights. Co-captain Sarah Arvidson had 11 kills and led the team with 12 digs, Lauren Murtagh and Becky Hoffman were one-two in both assists and service points and Molly Cronin, Lauren Gibson and Sarah Weiner were added options at the net. For the second straight match, all 14 players got in the game.
In what was the play of the night, on a ball that was going way deep, Arvidson and Weiner made brilliant recovery saves and Brogan finished off the point with her first of two straight kills in the third game.
Good as they played, the Warriors must put this game behind them and start focusing on Central — without going overboard.
“We’re definitely looking forward to playing them again, but we can’t get nervous,” said Brogan. “I think we were playing nervous against them last time.”
For North Andover (17-6), Julia Titone led the way with six kills and five blocks despite turning her ankle in the opening game and getting it taped for the rest of the match. Kaylee Lambrinos had 19 digs to key the defense.
“They’re tough at the net and their defense was really good — we couldn’t find an open spot,” said North Andover coach Veronica Schaefer. “But we had a successful season. I was pleased with how things went.”