RallyNorth.net

Astros hold heads high in defeat

Saturday, November, 08 By Alan Siegel
Staff writer

DERRY, N.H. — Roger Konstant scanned his players’ faces and made an announcement.

“Don’t be down,” he said. “Don’t be down.”

Spaulding swept Pinkerton 25-21, 25-18, 25-17 in the Division 1 girls volleyball final last night at Hackler Gymnasium. The defeat was sound, but for the Astros, there was plenty to be proud of.

“I told them keep their heads high. We’ve never brought home one of those before,” he said, pointing to the runner-up trophy. “It’s the first trip to the finals in 24 years of volleyball. They should be proud of what they’ve done.”

The nearly quarter-century old program made a huge leap this fall, finishing 20-2 and going farther than they ever have in postseason play.

“It legitimizes us,” Konstant said. “It makes us one of the top teams. It shows the rest of the state that we are a strong program.”

In the end, the second-seeded Red Raiders (21-1) were too much for the top-seeded Astros, who defeated Spaulding, 3-1, in their regular-season meeting.

Pinkerton was in the match early, trailing 19-18 in the first game before faltering.

“They played mistake-free volleyball,” Konstant said of Spaulding. “More power to them, they deserve it.”  

Spaulding’s Shaunda Forcier had a monster game, collecting 11 kills and 16 service points, five of which were aces.

“They covered everything we tried. We tried moving in short, we tried moving in deep, and they were there,” Konstant said. “At one point I turned to (assistant Brenda Stribling) and said, ‘How many of them are there on the floor?’ It looked like there were eight girls, I swear. We couldn’t put a ball on the wood.”

Pinkerton junior setter Mikayla Floyd came through with a gutsy effort, dishing out 25 assists.

“(She) probably ran four miles tonight,” Konstant said. “She was everywhere.”

For Floyd and her teammates, the loss had a silver lining.

“We’ve never made it this far,” she said. “It was just an honor to get there. We fought so hard.”

“I think it’s a good thing,” senior Kelsey McKechnie said. “Next year they’ll come out harder.”

The Astros, according to Floyd, will be back.

“We really want to get (Spaulding) back, obviously,” she said. “We’ll be looking forward to that.”