Volleyball clinches 6th straight trip to sectional semis

Update: The Canton High volleyball team defeated Milford 3-0 on Wednesday and will now face Hopkinton on Saturday in the Division 2 central finals at Wellesley High School.

The CHS girls volleyball team’s quest for postseason glory continued into the Division 2 central sectional semifinals following a hard-fought, straight-set win over No. 10 Ashland Monday night.

Senior Nicole Poole (Mike Barucci photo)

The lady Bulldogs, who earned the No. 2 seed with a stellar regular season record of 16-3, were due to host sixth seeded Milford Wednesday night in a rematch of Hockomock Davenport Division opponents. Canton already has two wins over the Hawks this season: 3-0 on the road on September 21 and 3-1 at home on October 20.

In Monday’s quarterfinal match against Ashland, the Bulldogs earned an impressive team win by a final score of 25-21, 25-22, 25-20.

Standout performers included Nicole Poole (23 assists, 8 kills, 10 digs), Julia Panico (20 digs), Emma Murphy (9 kills), and Emma Gobbi (6 kills). Head coach Pat Cawley also credited Maria Mackie, Emily Lynch and Erika Lum for their solid defense and Hannah Jerrier, Cassie Loftus, and Casey Shea for being a “huge presence at the net.”

With the victory, the Bulldogs clinched their sixth consecutive trip to the sectional final four, an unprecedented run of success for a CHS sports team. If they are able to defeat Milford, the team would then advance to the finals for the fourth time in five seasons and would face the winner of the other semifinals matchup: No. 1 Hopkinton versus No. 4 Westboro.

Regardless of last night’s result, however, the girls still have an entire season’s worth of highlights to be proud of, including a huge 3-0 win just last week over nonleague Quincy in the regular season finale. The Presidents (17-3) are among the top team’s in the Division 1 Central-East bracket, and Canton won all three sets in the match, 25-21, 26-24, 25-16. It was actually their second victory in a row against a talented nonleague opponent, following their 3-2 comeback win over Duxbury, which entered the Division 2 south tournament as the fourth seed at 17-3.

In the Quincy win, Murphy paced the offense with nine kills while Poole had 24 assists and 20 digs. Shea and Gobbi also came up big offensively, combining for 14 kills, and Panico provided her usual stellar defense and backcourt leadership.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=34771

Posted by Canton Citizen on Nov 12 2016. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.