Classical volleyball shuts out English

LYNN – The Classical High volleyball is enjoying its best season ever as it heads into the Lynn City Tournament this afternoon and then a trip to the state tournament.The Rams are 14-4 with their latest win a 3-0 affair against English Thursday at Classical. The Rams won fairly handily, 25-2, 25-6 and 25-20.Classical coach Frank DeLuca, who was the junior varsity coach for two years before taking over as head coach three years ago, credited much of the teams success to his two captains, who have both played varsity since they were freshmen.”This season comes down to our two captains, Ivy Martin and Cassie D’Agostino. They’re both four-year varsity players. They really carried the team this year,” DeLuca said.DeLuca said even the four games the team lost were close and they were against quality teams. The Rams lost twice to Peabody, once to Marblehead and once to Danvers..”They were all close games,” he said. “We know we’re there. We’re looking forward to going the state tournament. I know we’re going to be competitive this year.”The Rams dominated the first two sets against English with Lindsay Tobin serving nine straight points to start the game. Cassie D’Agostino, Ivy Martin and Cassidy McGann shared the load from the line the rest of the way.The second set went much the same way with Tobin once again jumpstarting the Rams with eight straight service points that put the English in a quick 9-1 hole. Soneta Srey, Meredith McDonald and Cassidy McGann served well down the stretch to keep the Bulldogs at bay.English (0-15) put up a fight in the third game with Jasmin Cchim serving three points to close the gap to 16-14 at one point. Sabrina Uribe also had a couple of timely serves in the early going to keep her team in the hunt, as did Brittany Barrows.”I like how we played in the third set,” English coach Laurie Wentzell said. “We’ll try and use some of the momentum for tomorrow (today’s game against St. Mary’s).”The Lynn City Tournament begins today at 4 p.m. when Classical playsTech. St. Mary’s and English play at 5:15. The consolation and championship games are Saturday morning (9 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.). All games are at St. Mary’s.