MARBLEHEAD — After falling into an early hole by dropping the first set, the Marblehead volleyball team battled back to notch a 3-1 win over Peabody at Marblehead High on Tuesday evening. The Magicians won by set scores of 22-25, 33-31, 25-15 and 25-16.
“Everyone battled so hard for us tonight, ” said Marblehead coach Killeen Miller. “They never quit, and that’s a good lesson for us to show ourselves that no game is ever really over if we keep working hard. It was a great showing by everyone. “
Marblehead was led on the offensive end by Lizzie Myers, who notched 22 kills in the win. Sarah Lipsky had 11 kills, while Anna Arbo had eight kills and 15 digs. Mandy Dumais had 48 digs to lead the defense, while Izzy Curtin added 47 assists.
For Peabody, Tatiana Correia led the defensive effort with 33 digs. Serena Laro had six kills and four blocks, Jillian Alimonte had six kills and Martyna Kot added five kills.
“I thought we played awesome tonight against a really fantastic Marblehead team, ” said Peabody coach Lisa Keene. “We knew it was going to be a battle tonight and a lot of girls really stepped up for us tonight despite the loss. “
The first set was a back-and-forth affair. Peabody jumped out to an early lead before Marblehead came back to claim the lead. Then Peabody came back, retaking the lead again. The score was tied at 14-14 and then 18-18 before Peabody took a 20-18 lead and forced Marblehead to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Marblehead surged back to tie the score at 21-21 and looked like it regained momentum. But then the Tanners went on a 4-1 run to close out the set win.
The second set was the highlight of the match. The Tanners started out by carrying over momentum from the first set, jumping out to a 10-5 lead and then a 17-8 lead before Marblehead called a timeout. The timeout helped, as the Magicians went on a 9-6 run to make it interesting at 23-17 Peabody, forcing the Tanners into a timeout of their own. But the timeout didn’t help the Tanners like it helped the Magicians, and Marblehead came all the way back to tie the score at 24-24. From there, the score went back and forth, with ties at 26-26, 27-27, 28-28, 29-29 and 30-30. Then with the score tied at 31-31, Marblehead finally caught a break when Peabody had a couple of hitting errors, allowing the Magicians to capture the set and tie up the match.
“Our girls were tired today after a long match in our previous game, and then after falling behind today, it would’ve been easy to give up, ” Miller said. “But they kept fighting and came back, which just shows their heart. “
From there, Marblehead held onto the momentum. The Magicians jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the third set, forcing Peabody into a timeout. Once again the timeout only benefitted Marblehead, as the Magicians stretched the lead to 17-10 and then 23-11 en route to another set win. After a kill from Myers, Marblehead took the set and set itself up for a win.
The fourth set was similar. Marblehead went up 5-1 to start, but Peabody rallied to make it 11-8. But from there, a 13-6 Marblehead run stretched the lead even more. Katie Knight notched the game’s final kill to give the Magicians the set and the match.
The match was a big one for both teams as they close in on the end of the regular season.
“The girls knew what was at stake today, and that was second place in the conference, ” Miller said. “We both had one conference loss coming in, so the girls knew they needed to put those tired feelings aside and fight for a win today, and that’s what they did. “
Both teams are back in action on Thursday when Marblehead (12-4) hosts Lynn English and Peabody (13-4) battles Somerville.
