REVERE — The Revere volleyball team continued its solid start to the 2018 season Tuesday afternoon, battling to a 3-0 win over Everett in a Northeastern Conference showdown. The Patriots took the sets 25-16, 25-20, 25-15.
“This was a solid win, but honestly I think we’ve had better games than this already this year,” said Revere coach Lianne O’Hara. “We were a little inconsistent at times. We have a ton of talent, but it’s our consistency that needs some work.”
Revere got contributions from up and down the roster in the victory, led by senior captain Greis Kasofo’s 10 assists, 10 digs and three aces. Senior captain Kiana Napolitano added 13 digs and one ace, while senior captain Emily DiGiulio had three kills and four digs. Senior Gabriella Rotondo had 12 digs, six aces and three kills, senior Lily DelloIacono had 10 digs and two assists and senior Will Arias Rodrigues had six aces and 10 digs. Sophomore Lynzie Anderson added three kills and four digs.
The Patriots came right out and took an early lead in the first set, jumping ahead 5-0 before Everett put on a small rally. But Revere kept on pounding, eventually stretching the lead to 14-7 and then 18-9 before finally taking the set 25-16.
Everett responded early in the second set, getting out to a 6-2 lead of its own. But that’s when Arias Rodrigues checked in and did his job from the service line, notching a number of aces and almost single handedly pushing the Patriots to a 7-5 lead and forcing the Crimson Tide back on their heels. Revere then went on a 10-7 run to take control. Despite a small run by Everett late in the set, the Patriots were able to take advantage of some errors by the Crimson Tide and grab a 25-20 win in the second set.
The third set was another back and forth affair. The Patriots took the early lead at 5-2, but Everett bounced back to take a 6-5 lead. Revere then retook the lead at 9-8 to force an Everett timeout. The timeout didn’t help much, as the Patriots came out and went on a 6-0 run to push the lead to 15-8. Everett was able to go on one last rally to cut the deficit to 16-14 Revere, but the Patriots closed out the set and the match with a 9-1 run to earn the victory.
The win puts the Patriots at 6-1 on the year, a record that is very satisfying for O’Hara and one that she knows her team has worked hard for since the first game of the year.
“We opened the year against Danvers, which has been a league champion multiple times recently, and we actually beat them in a set and were close in the other three,” O’Hara said. “I think that was a huge confidence booster for our team and it showed the girls that we can really compete against anyone this year.”
But the work isn’t done yet, as there are a number of tough teams such as Peabody, Marblehead, Classical and Beverly left on the schedule.
“We know that we still have a lot of work to do,” said O’Hara. “I scouted Peabody when they played Lynnfield (Monday night) and they’re really good. We know the other teams in our conference are very good as well. So there’s no time to relax here, we’re only just getting the tough part started.”
Revere will try to continue that positive momentum Thursday on the road at Malden.
