MIAA STATE VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Barnstable eases past Milford

By Jack McCluskey, Globe Correspondent | November 18, 2007

HUDSON -It took Barnstable just 54 minutes to win the three games it needed to claim its fifth straight MIAA Division 1 state championship.

Actually, subtracting the 12 minutes of stoppage time (six one-minute timeouts by Milford and the two three-minute breaks between games) it took only 42 minutes for the Red Raiders to serve, pass, dig, and hit their way past the Scarlet Hawks last night for the school's 11th championship in 15 years.

"Volleyball is a game of momentum," said Barnstable coach Tom Turco, and the Raiders had that in great supply.

Barnstable's offense was relentless; its passes crisp, serves sharp, and hits accurate and powerful. Senior middle hitter Kara Cullen had more kills in the match (19) than Milford scored points in any one game, falling, 25-11, 25-13, and 25-16.

The Scarlet Hawks only held two leads in the match - scoring first in the first two games -and only twice went on scoring runs of more than 2 points.

"Never gets old," said Turco of the championship. "[My players] don't care what the score is, they love the game and they play like they love the game."

In addition to the championship, Turco and the Raiders set the Massachusetts record for consecutive victories with 110 before losing to Brentwood, Calif., in October.

"I've never cared about the streak. Ever, ever, ever," said Turco. "All I cared about was preparing my kids for this final streak of five games in the tournament."

"Words can't even describe it," said senior setter Amanda Parker of four championships in four years as a Raider.

A staple of the Raiders' offense all season, Parker to Cullen was no different in the championship. "I love setting her," said Parker. "She's awesome, I love playing with her. I've played with her since, like, seventh grade and it's so fun and it's sad because this was our last game together, ever."

Division 2

Westboro 3, Bourne 0 - With a relentless spike-filled attack, Westboro put an end to Bourne's Cinderella run through the state tournament.

The much taller Rangers attacked Bourne from all angles with spikes and dominated net play. The Canalmen were the sixth seed in the South region; Westborough was the top seed in the Central.

After cruising to a 25-16 win in the first game, Westboro faced a 22-18 deficit after misjudging a Bourne serve and letting it fall in bounds. But the Rangers wouldn't surrender a point for the remainder of the game, earning the serve back on a spike by senior Christina Carr and winning the game, 25-22, when Bourne couldn't cleanly return senior Caitlin Piper's spike.

"They pushed and we pushed back, seniors do that," Westboro coach Roger Anderson said.

Riding the momentum from the comeback, the Rangers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the decisive third game and parlayed that into a 25-18 victory.

"We just didn't match up with them," Bourne coach Tim Acton said. "They just had more weapons than we did."

Division 3

North Reading 3, Frontier 2 - Coach Kerrianne Forrest can't recall how it happened. One moment she was sitting, anxiously, on the edge of a folding chair inside the gymnasium at Hudson High School, hands crossed nervously in front of her face.

Six minutes later, Forrest was being mobbed by players and fans in full celebration.

In a memorable matchup between budding rivals, the girls of North Reading finally overcame two-time defending state champion Frontier, the team that ended North Reading's season in 2005 and 2006.

The Hornets took the first two games, both by a score of 27-25. Frontier fought back, winning the next two games, both by a score of 25-21, to force a decisive fifth game. Holding true to the prevailing theme, Game 5 was another back-and-forth battle.

In a game in which neither team held more than a 2-point lead, North Reading scored the winning point when a volley landed out of bounds, sending the Hornets into a frenzy at midcourt.

"We were just thinking, 'Pick up the ball,' " said junior Lauren Mazzone of the game's final play. "It was such a tight match, we were just matching each other point for point and it was so close we just wanted to keep the ball in the air and in bounds.

"The last point, we could hear the guys on the sidelines screaming, 'Let it go, let it go,' because they saw it was out before we did."

Tied at 21 in Game 1, North Reading junior Alison Friberg came up with back-to-back kills for a 23-21 edge before the Red Hawks countered to even things at 24 apiece. A Frontier error put the Hornets ahead, 26-25 before an ace by Mazzone sealed the victory.

North Reading took the second game behind Mazzone, Friberg, and Elizabeth Sutera. Seniors Caroline Gattuso and Erica Diamantides anchored a defense that hadn't lost a game in the tournament. The fourth-seeded Hornets defeated No. 5 Lynnfield, top-ranked Fellowship Christian, and No. 11 Notre Dame Academy.

"Last year, [Frontier] took us [in four games], in the [2005] semis, it was the same thing. We went up two games, they came back and won it," said Friberg. "We brought that sadness from losing to them both times, plus we're a year older and we've been together a year longer and we just wanted to win.

"It feels so good to do it against Frontier. They're an amazing team. It just feels great against them."

Globe correspondent Sapna Pathak contributed to this report.