LYNN — The Classical volleyball team got off to a bit of a slow start on its Senior Night against cross-town rival English, but the Rams were able to gather themselves and post a 3-0 win at Lynn Tech Tuesday evening. Classical won by set scores of 25-16, 25-14, 25-12.
“It was kind of emotional for our seniors today because of the pregame activities, but once they got past that they were able to play well,” said Classical coach Frank Deluca. “I wish our service game could’ve been a little better overall, but I was happy with how the girls fought back and got the win.”
Classical was led by an impressive performance from Amber Crayton, who had 24 service points and 12 digs in the win. Shanelle Belmer-Barry added nine kills, while Pamela Diaz had 11 digs. Maggie McHale led the Rams with five assists.
For English, Merily Folestal had a solid game with seven kills and two aces. Coach Mike Haddad pointed to the play of Folestal, setter Amy Lon and libero Andy Nhiv as key to the Bulldogs’ performance.
“Merily has been our rookie of the year this year, she’s a phenomenal hitter and no one is better on defense,” Haddad said. “Our setter Amy Lon is like the heart of our team, and Andy Nhiv, who was our libero in sets one and three, no one hustles like Andy.”
Classical did start the opening set by jumping out to a 5-1 lead, but English came right back with a flurry to tie the score at 6-6. English eventually took a lead at 9-7, but this time Classical battled back to tie the score at 12-12. The Rams then went on to take a 16-12 lead before riding that momentum all the way to a 25-16 set win.
From that point, the Rams held onto almost all of the momentum. Classical opened the second set with a 9-2 to force an early English timeout, but it didn’t help the Bulldogs. The Rams came out of the timeout and went on a run to stretch their lead to double digits, getting it to as many as 11 points. Despite a small rally by English near the end of the set, Classical notched an easy win 25-14.
The third set was much of the same. Classical went up 9-1 to force another English timeout, then the Rams stretched their lead all the way to 20-6 before the Bulldogs called another timeout. After a kill by Belmer-Barry to end the set 25-12, Classical took the match.
Deluca noted that his team’s relentless ability to score points stems from the fact that the talent is very evenly spread out across the team.
“Our strength is that we are a very good volleying team,” said Deluca. “As long as we stay patient we can come out on top, and that’s what we were able to do for most of this match.”
The Rams, who are already in the state tournament with a record of 14-3, are now focused on building some momentum heading into the playoffs.
“We’ve got some tough tests coming up to close the season, but that’s what you want as you head into the tournament,” said Deluca. “Hopefully we can play well and get some wins against some quality teams, because those are the kinds of teams we’ll be seeing in the tournament.”
Classical takes on Beverly Thursday.
English (2-12) hosts Marblehead Thursday.
“We’ve made a lot of progress as a team over the course of the year, and we’re a good team despite what our record says,” said Haddad. “But consistency is our issue. If we can fix that, our record is going to start really turning around. Hopefully we can get some momentum going into the offseason.”
