LYNN — Winning their sixth consecutive Lynn City Volleyball Tournament was far from easy for the Classical Rams.
Classical defeated St. Mary’s 3-2 in Friday’s final at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium, but the Spartans gave the Rams everything they had. Set scores were 25-10, 25-12, 23-25, 21-25, 15-10.
“It’s our seventh out of eight City Tournament championships,” Rams coach Frank DeLuca said. “I’m really happy for the girls, especially with it being that close. This is our thing. This is our tournament. It means a lot to the girls, playing against all their friends from the city. Winning this is a big goal for us.”
Pamela Diaz, who logged 23 service points, 14 digs and five aces, was named tournament MVP.
“Pamela was our star,” DeLuca said. “She’s a senior captain. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what would’ve happened. She did a great job digging.”
Amber Crayton’s 27 service points, 11 assists and 10 aces were team highs. Jean Gupton-Morrison tallied 10 kills, while Chloe Clement and Cherish Nwoko had eight kills each.
With swift starts in the first two sets, the Rams got themselves off to an ideal beginning. Classical won the first set, 25-10, and the second set, 25-12, with little trouble.
But what the Spartans weren’t able to do in the beginning, they did in the next two sets. Major improvements in communication, footwork and clean passing propelled the Spartans through the middle of the match.
They grabbed their first lead of the night, 9-8, in the third set. Classical regrouped after a timeout but the Spartans took the set, 25-23.
The Rams sprinted out to a 6-1 lead in set No. 4. Again, the Spartans showed no quit and won the set 25-21 to set up a deciding fifth.
That’s when Classical went back to its strongpoint of the match-a rapid start. The Rams rolled to an 8-0 start before fighting another Spartans push for the 15-10 set victory.
“St. Mary’s wouldn’t go away after the first two sets,” DeLuca said. “It gets to a point where you can’t give points away. If you do, they’ll catch you. Pam had nine points in the fifth set. That was fantastic.”
Classical (17-2) concludes its regular season Monday (5:30), when the Rams host crosstown rival English.
“We’re having our Senior Night Monday,” DeLuca said. “English gave us a battle last time. I just want to see our team get the lead and consistently push through. We have too many letdowns when we get the lead. We’re probably better when we get behind than when we’re ahead. But we battled back to win that fifth set and that was fantastic.”
St. Mary’s wraps the season at 5-15.
