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SALEM, N.H. — The Salem student section was packed tight for the Blue Devils' milestone boys volleyball match against Mascenic last night.

It included some students with their faces painted blue and white, others wearing flashing blue devil horns and a few girls holding up signs that read "It's Tiner Time," in reference to hard hitting Salem senior Dan Tiner.

Tiner, like the students watching from bleachers behind the Salem bench, immediately showed how fired up he was when he and his teammates took the court trying to win the program's 100th straight match.

Tiner scored the first point of the first game by smashing a hard kill and then he scored four of the game's next five points on service aces.

Witnessing this, the student section erupted by chanting "It's all over." The Blue Devils certainly were on their way to one historic victory.

Salem swept Mascenic 25-8, 25-15, 25-5 to record consecutive win No. 100 in front of a crowd of more than 500 people.

"It was like the best feeling," Tiner said about glancing up at the boisterous fans. "I'll remember this for the rest of my life. Oh, my God, the adrenaline was pumping. I was loving it. I kept going and the crowd was cheering my name. It was awesome because usually we don't have that big of a crowd. So to have that crowd really amped us up."

"We came out ready to play but the crowd just pumped us up even more," Jason Kinney said.

Tiner recorded 14 kills and Kinney tallied 11. Chris Barnes recorded 21 assists for the 7-0 Blue Devils.

A few former Salem players returned to watch game No. 100. The attendance list included Brian George who graduated in 2005. The towering 6-foot-8 George was a member of the inaugural varsity team and he sported, on top of his head, a pair of blue horns that his mother made for him in 2004.

"We pulled them (the horns) out of the closet," said George, who recently graduated from Champlain College and was impressed with how much better the program has gotten since 2005.

"The team has evolved a lot," added George, who was an All-State player. "Some of the JVs are better than I was when I was playing."

After this season, New Hampshire will play in the spring (beginning in 2011), opening up potential rivalries with Massachusetts schools.

Salem coach E.J. Perry hopes that will enable New Hampshire schools to dispel the perception that they play an inferior brand of volleyball.

"I'm going to relish the opportunity of next year going over that state line," Perry said. "We'll play anyone in Massachusetts starting next year. This team, I would put up against anybody in New England. Anybody."

"I played against (Salem) and they were good then," said Mascenic coach Tyler Bergeron who graduated from Mascenic in 2008. "They play all year round. They have a lot of experience. ... The hard hitting, we've never seen anything like that. So it's tough to deal with."

By the numbers

100 — consecutive match wins

0 — match losses in the program's history

300 — Games won (100 matches, three games per match)

11 — Games lost

5 — State titles

1 — matches that went to five games (to Mascenic in 2004)

Source: Salem coach E.J. Perry

legendary Local streaks

School%sport%Years%wins%Comment

Salem%boys volleyball%2004-%100%Blue Devils have never lost a varsity match

North Andover%wrestling%1976-83%104-0-2%Rebounded from Lowell loss to win 48 straight

Timberlane%wrestling%ended 2000%103-0%Salem ended in-state streak

Salem%softball%1990-93%84-0%at the time 3rd longest streak all-time nationally

Andover%girls tennis%1988-06%255%Lost non-leaguer to Newton South

Andover%girls swimming%1998-07%99%Acton-Boxboro denied Warriors 100th

Andover%spring track%?%88%Coach Dick Collins had a juggernaut

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