LYNN — The No. 4 Classical volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 win over No. 13 Boston English in the first round of Division 2 North state tournament Saturday at Classical High School.
The Rams’ strength all season has been a strong service game and that was on full display in this one. Pamela Diaz led the way with eight aces. Amber Crayton had five aces while Brooke Warren added four.
“That’s been the strength of our team all year,” Classical coach Frank DeLuca said. “We really spend a lot of time on that in practice. We work on it over and over because that’s our strength. The girls know that and I tell them that. So they came through (Saturday).”
Jean Gupton Morrison also led the Rams with 10 kills. Cherish Nwoko had five kills while Crayton led Classical with nine assists.
“We did a good job on our setting and killing (Saturday),” DeLuca said. “There weren’t that many volleys but the volleys that were there we were able to get a lot of kills and setting on those.”
Diaz got started right away at the service line, starting the game with a pair of aces to help Classical take a 4-0 lead in the first set.
The Rams ran into a bit of trouble with some errors allowing Boston English to tie things up at 4-4, but recovered. Classical went on a nine-point run, led by five aces from Crayton to jump out to a 13-4 lead. Boston English took a point back but Warren got the offense rolling again with four aces and the Rams went ahead 20-5.
Boston English climbed back into things but, fittingly, Nwoko ended the first set on an ace to give Classical a 25-15 win and 1-0 lead.
The Rams reaped the benefits of another great start at the service line from Diaz in the second set. Three aces from Diaz and some well executed offense put Classical ahead 12-0.
Crayton added a pair of aces later in the set to stretch the Classical lead to 18-1 and Reece Brinkler finished off a 25-6 win with a kill to put Classical ahead 2-0.
The third set was more of the same. A pair of kills from Nwoko and two more aces from Diaz got the Rams out to an 8-0 lead. The Rams ended the set on a 12-0 run. Isabella Faessler added a pair of aces and Classical capped of the match with a 25-3 win.
Despite the dominant win, the Rams know things aren’t getting any easier as they get further into the tournament.
“We know the caliber of team are going to be better the deeper we go into the tournament,” DeLuca said. “We played Danvers, Danvers is undefeated. They could be a team we see (later) or Lynnfield. Those are good teams. The girls know it and they usually rise to the occasion. The better the opponent, the better we play so I’m hoping that happens.”
For now the Rams shift their focus to another home game against No. 5 Melrose in the quarterfinals Tuesday (6).
“We’re really going to have to step up playing Melrose,” DeLuca said. “They beat us last year 3-1 to knock us out of the tournament. So hopefully we’ll be ready for them this year. I don’t know about revenge but we’re just looking to play better. If we play our A-game we should be competitive with them.”
