RallyNorth.net

Central downs Andover for third time

Saturday, November, 12 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — In the end, No. 2 was the undisputed No. 1.

Entering the Division 1 North volleyball tournament seeded second despite having beaten top-seeded Andover twice, Central Catholic pulled off the season trifecta. With its straight-set 25-23, 25-17, 18-26 victory last night at Lawrence High School, the Raiders have now won four of its past five North tourneys, including three Division 2 titles from in 2007 and 08.

Central, which dropped a three-set decision to Andover in last year’s North finals, has handed the Golden Warriors three of their past four losses since taking a North championship victory in 2009.

“It’s tough to beat a team three times,” said Central senior Alex Borrelli, who had a team-high nine kills and added nine assists. “You can’t get too cocky. We knew we had beaten them two times and we just had to do the same thing this time.”

The Raiders (20-2) advance to play the Central-West champ in the state semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Billerica High School. And they should enter with the confidence of a team that has beaten its arch rival in nine of the 11 sets played this year.

“We weren’t expected to be as good as we were (coming into the season), said Hunter Tuck, who had eight kills and three blocks. “We were the underdogs, and I guess we proved everyone wrong.”

Central eked out the win in a first set that featured eight ties. The Raiders opened its biggest lead at 17-13, but a 5-1 run by Andover (20-3) tied the set at 18. Then trailing 23-21, Central rallied behind the serving of Borrelli to score the final four points.

The second set proved a breeze for Central, which broke a 3-3 tie before eventually building its biggest lead at 19-12.

“This is the most efficient (match) we had,” said Central coach Gannon Paris, whose squad won all nine North tourney sets it played. “So, I’m prouder of this than anything. We took our punches (against Andover) in the regular season which was knock-down, drag-out. But we were able to establish control of this match, keep control of the match and win just about every point that we had to.”

But Andover refused to hide and battled in what proved to be a tremendous third set. The teams were tied 14 times and the lead changed hands seven. Both teams failed to close out the set once before the Raiders scored the final two points on a kill by Borrelli and unforced Andover error.

“They deserved it,” Andover coach George Sullivan said. “I thought they played very well. Their defense was outstanding, but we didn’t execute as well as I wanted. ... I think the first game, especially, we were intimidated, and I don’t know why.”