City volleyball tournament begins

LYNN – The St. Mary?s volleyball team will not qualify for the state tournament this season, but the Spartans will play for a championship to close out their season regardless. The host Spartans defeated Lynn Tech, 3-0, in the opening round of the Lynn City Tournament on Monday afternoon. St. Mary?s will play English in the final.St. Mary?s came out firing to begin Monday?s match, scoring the opening set?s first 14 points. Molly Doyle recorded seven straight points on serves, including three aces before a streak of four service points. The Spartans would go on to win the set in dominating fashion, 25-3. “We played very well to start the match, especially in our serving game,” said St. Mary?s coach Erin Menard. “Molly came out on fire and really carried us for long stretches in that first set.”Dakota McMahon (service point, ace), Francesca Simon and Taylor Faieta (ace each) also chipped in on the Spartans? strong service attack in the early going.The Tigers managed to stay competitive for the majority of the second set, despite falling behind 10-4 after five straight points from St. Mary?s, the last a strong kill from Faieta that glanced off the top of the net.Trailing 14-8, Tech recorded three straight points, including Yamireyshka Fratichelli?s blast to the back right corner to cut the lead to three. The hosts responded with streaks of five and six straight points to take the set 25-12.The rally of the match came with St. Mary?s up 23-12. The lengthy back and forth factored in each player from both teams and lasted over a minute before Fratichelli misfired on a shot down the left sideline.?After the great first set, I think we began to relax a little bit,” explained Menard. “We weren?t scoring on our serves anymore and didn?t play with the same fire we did to start the game and had to pull it together in the end.”The Spartans had to survive a scare to close out the game as Tech nearly forced a fourth set before falling 26-24.The Tigers led by at least three points on three separate occasions in the early going but St. Mary?s hung around and eventually took a 15-14 lead. The Spartans expanded their cushion to 22-18 on a forceful kill by Faieta that careened off Yerania Castro?s arms all the way back past the St. Mary?s back line.Tech rallied back with three straight points, the latter a service point by Kacy Cristal Morales to force St. Mary?s into a timeout.?I told them to play the point and not worry about the scoreboard,” said Menard of the late huddle. “We needed to get back to playing for each point and not worry about getting a rally going.”The Tigers scored the tying point on the re-start before the Spartans got kills from Simon and Amanda Idusuyi to take a 24-22 lead. After a St. Mary?s service error and a Paola Del Valle service point tied things, the Tigers committed an unforced error before a Simon kill ended things at 26-24.