CHS volleyball team climbs atop Davenport standings

The matches were a little too close for comfort, but CHS head volleyball coach Pat Cawley was still quite pleased with the end results last week: a pair of hard-fought road wins against league opponents, including a furious rally from two sets down to beat Foxboro 3-2 on Friday.

“This match showed that although we have yet to play our best volleyball, we don’t ever give up,” said Cawley, repeating a familiar refrain after her team stunned the Warriors on their home court to improve to 4-2 on the season.

The two victories — the other was a 3-1 win over Sharon last Tuesday — also gave the Bulldogs sole possession of first place (4-0) in the newly created Hockomock Davenport Division. Foxboro, at 3-1, sits in second place.

Of course, Canton could have been looking up at the Warriors heading into this week if it weren’t for the Bulldogs’ thrilling comeback on Friday. Down 2-0 after squandering leads in the first two sets, Canton stormed back to take the next three (25-18, 25-15, 15-10) behind a dominant all-around performance from junior opposite Olivia Murphy.

Arguably the team’s best player through the early part of the season, Murphy was sensational on both ends of the court, finishing with 16 kills, 18 digs, three aces, and six blocks. Canton also got timely defense from Mellyn Costello and senior captain Anna Amico, who finished with 18 digs in the winning effort.

While it was far from a perfect performance by the Bulldogs, Cawley was in no mood to nitpick following the team’s biggest win to date.

“I’m very proud of the girls for having the confidence to overcome the 2-0 deficit and for believing they could win,” she said.

Earlier in the week, the team traveled to Sharon to face the defensive-minded Eagles and came away with a closely contested 3-1 win.

The Bulldogs took the first two sets by a combined five points before falling in set three 25-19. They managed to bounce right back in set four, however, winning 25-20 to take the match.

Canton was led by senior outside hitter Paige Chaifetz, who finished with 14 kills, two aces, and 21 digs. Sophomore middle hitter Julia Murphy also played well, finishing with seven kills, three aces, and 18 digs, as did junior defensive specialist Lauren Hartnett, who had 14 digs.

Once again, Cawley was pleased with the win but not entirely satisfied with her team’s performance.

“Our goal for the week was to reduce our unforced errors and play much better defense,” she said. “Our defense did step up, reacting and reading the play better and getting to the ball quicker. We still made too many errors, allowing Sharon to stay with us. Although much work remains, we came away with a victory.”

This week, the Bulldogs were scheduled to host two teams in the Hockomock’s Kelly-Rex Division (large schools), beginning with King Philip (3-4) on Wednesday and Mansfield (5-3) tomorrow afternoon at 4:45.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Oct 7 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.