TEWKSBURY — They’re back.
A year after the Lynnfield volleyball team’s string of seven straight Division 3 North championship titles was snapped, the Pioneers are hoisting another sectional championship trophy, this one in Division 2.
Saturday at Tewksbury High, the No. 2 Pioneers defeated No. 12 Burlington, 3-0, to advance to the Tuesday’s state semifinals against Groton-Dunstable at Hudson High (7:30).
But don’t let the final score fool you as the match was a nail-biter from start to finish.
Both teams overcame deficits, made long runs, lost good-sized leads and, at times, looked like their nerves were getting the best of them.
But in the end, Lynnfield came up with the shots when it counted the most to earn the right to hoist the sectional trophy.
Burlington libero Lindsay Baxter opened the match with an ace, then the teams traded hitting errors to make it a 2-2 game.
With Mac Schena on serve, the Pioneers ran off the next six points to take an 8-2 lead. Lynnfield took its largest lead of the set, 16-9, on a cross-court kill by Melissa Morelli. But Burlington went on an 8-0 run to take a 17-16 lead, prompting a Pioneer timeout.
It was back-and-forth from that point on with neither team able to gain momentum.
Lynnfield had set point, 24-22 after a Kayla Mortellite front row winner (from Sophia Wilkinson), but the Red Devils ran off three straight points to earn their first set point, 25-24.
A Burlington service error opened the door for the Pioneers, who closed out the set with an ace by Sam Lebruska and a double hit by Burlington to take a one-set lead.
Burlington raced out to a 7-1 lead in the second set, but Lynnfield rallied with a 13-7 run to tie things up, 14-14. Burlington answered and regained the lead, 20-17, after three Pioneer hitting errors. Melissa Morelli stopped the bleeding with a winner to make it 20-18, then, with Sofia Ciriello serving, Lynnfield ran off the next seven points to take the set, 25-20.
Morelli got things started, ripping back-to-back winners down the line to close the gap to 20-19. After a Burlington miss and an ace by Ciriello, Lynnfield took its first lead of the set, 21-20. Morelli closed out the set with a monster kill to the back line to cap an 8-0 Lynnfield run and clinch the second set, 25-20.
“I relied on my old baseball mentality knowing that the third time hitters come through the hitting order, they are going to be able to adjust to pitching,” Lynnfield coach Brent Ashley said. “By the same token, Burlington was adjusting to our serving. They knew our three and six servers were floaters and Sophia and Melissa were going to get into their faces with hard, driving serves, so we needed to shake up the rotation.”
Ashley’s hunch paid off immediately as, leading 1-0 on a Schena winner, the Pioneers ran off the next seven points on Schena’s serve to take their largest lead of the day, 8-0.
Lynnfield still led 24-20, but the scrappy Red Devils fought back and won the next four points to get back in the game, tied at 24-24.
A big double block by Morelli and Mortellite gave Lynnfield its fifth match point, 25-24. The teams traded the next two points, both on serving errors. Fittingly the Pioneers won the decisive point on Morelli’s serve when a Burlington return went wide.
