Canton High girls volleyball flexes muscle in tournament-opening win
By Jay Turner
CHS volleyball players celebrate after their victory over Woburn. (Caitlin Tureski photo)
It was business as usual on Sunday for the CHS girls volleyball team, who rolled past No. 27 Woburn Memorial in straight sets at home to advance to the Sweet 16 in this year’s Division 2 state tournament.
With the win, Canton moves on to face No. 22 Hingham, with the victor of that match then advancing to the state quarterfinals to face either third-seeded Billerica or No. 19 Milton.
A perennial D2 volleyball power and a state finalist last season, the Bulldogs came into the tournament riding a seven-match winning streak with an overall record of 17-3, earning them the No. 6 seed in this year’s 40-team bracket.
A heavy favorite against Woburn, the Bulldogs got off to a fast start in the tournament opener as they cruised to a 25-13 set-one victory. But the visiting Tanners refused to give up, and in the second set they battled Canton to a 17-all tie before falling by just three points, 25-22.
“The tournament is tough,” head coach Pat Cawley told HockomockSports after the match. “Your season is hanging in the balance and no matter who you’re playing, there’s a lot of nerves and anxiety. I think by the third we settled in and played more like who we are.”
Sharp out of the gate in set three, the hosts jumped out to a 10-2 advantage and never looked back, winning 25-10 and sealing the match.
Senior Sally Hoban powered the offense for the Bulldogs with 12 kills while also adding six digs, and setter Erin Bigham distributed the ball well while contributing across the board with 26 assists, two aces, two kills and six digs.
Anchoring the defense was sophomore Soley Rodriguez Martinez, who totaled a team-high 16 digs to go along with three aces and two kills.
Teammates Ife Ajanaku (4 kills, 1 block), Chloe Dubuisson (4 kills, 4 blocks) and Charlotte Clyve (6 kills, 10 digs, 1 block) were all strong at the net for the Bulldogs, and Melanie McDonough and Jess Hooton played great defense and served well.
“Everyone saw action and contributed to the win,” noted Cawley.
Improving to 18-3 overall, the Bulldogs know that the competition gets tougher with each round and they will need to be locked in if they want to get back to the title game for a shot at avenging last season’s heartbreaking finish.
Standing in their way are several challenging opponents, including a familiar Hockomock foe in No. 2 Oliver Ames (17-3) and potentially the defending champs and this year’s top overall seed, Westborough (16-1).
The match with Hingham was scheduled for last night at CHS with the date and location of the quarterfinals still to be determined.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=128160
Posted by Jay Turner
on Nov 8 2024. Filed under High School, Sports.
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