LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield volleyball team got business done as usual, remaining unbeaten on the season on Senior Night with a 3-0 win over North Andover.
Freshman Ella Gizmunt led the Pioneers with an impressive 14 kills. Samantha Lebruska wasn’t far behind with 12 kills while Melissa Morelli added 11 kills.
“Typically Mellisa is always going to be leading the team in kills,” Lynnfield coach Brent Ashley said. “But I’ve been trying to push her into really controlling the court more and not do as much offensively. Ella is incredible. She was on. Even in our broken plays we’ve been working on her trying to get a higher ball out. She’s like six feet tall so when she gets on top of the ball she does some amazing things with it.”
A strong start was key for the Pioneers in the first set of the night. The Pioneers serving game was strong with three aces from Morelli while Gizmunt added another two aces later to help Lynnfield jump out to a 14-4 lead. Lynnfield got its lead up to as much as 14 points later in the set before taking it handily 25-12.
“All in all we came out strong,” Ashley said. “We want to play faster than our opponent no matter what. These seniors are so natural where they know where the ball is going. Sometimes I have to yell at them to talk more but they just know where to be anyway. Fast tempo is our key though, to come out and get on to people.”
The second set was a bit tighter with North Andover and Lynnfield keeping pace in a 6-6 tie. From there Lynnfield went on a big 7-1 run to get its lead to 13-7 midway through the set. Both teams kept pace for the most part from there and Lynnfield took the set 25-17.
A seven-point run midway through the third set, highlighted by three kills apiece from Lebruska and Mac Schena, put the Pioneers ahead 16-8. Lynnfield ran into some trouble from there with North Andover going on a five-point run to cut the lead to 16-13 but Lynnfield was able to control things the rest of the way to take the set 25-18 and win the game.
“The third set we got into a little bit of trouble because they were playing faster than we were,” Ashley said. “We had to offset their tempo and it was fantastic. Sam came up right away and put a ball down in the corner. After that it was so fast you couldn’t even turn your head.”
The Pioneers (18-0, 14-0 CAL), which clinched at least a share of the Cape Ann League title Monday, can lock up the CAL title outright with one win in their last two matches, which are Friday at home against Newburyport (5) and Monday on the road at Ipswich (5:30). Ashley says his team, which hasn’t dropped a set all year, is determined to remain perfect.
“The thing I love is I told them about the CAL before the match started and they didn’t even care,” Ashley said. “It wasn’t their priority. Having 60 straight sets this year is all they care about. They’re guarding it with their life and I love it. They’re so protective over what this team has done now. I tell them they’re going to have a target on their backs. Every single match people are going to try and break that.”
