MALDEN — The Lynn English volleyball team put together a solid effort on the court Wednesday morning, but in the end the Bulldogs just didn’t make enough plays to pull out the win in a 3-0 loss to Greater Boston League foe Malden on the road. The Bulldogs fell by set scores of 15-25, 14-25, 24-26.
“It was a similar story for us on Monday against Chelsea where we just took a little too long to get warmed up out there,” said English coach Mike Haddad. “You can see what the girls are capable of once they get going, and if they can start playing the first two sets like they played the third set (Wednesday), then we’ll really start making some noise.”
Senior captain Merily Folestal led the way from the service line with five aces, while middle hitter Veronica Moeun had three kills.
The first set got off to a back-and-forth start, with the two teams trading the lead over the first several points of the game. But, about midway through the set, Malden was able to gain a foothold and push ahead to a 19-11 lead, forcing an English timeout. The Bulldogs came back with a few points after that, but Malden’s lead was too large and the Golden Tornadoes were able to take the set 25-15.
Malden brought that positive momentum right into the second set, jumping ahead early and controlling the flow of the set from the start. The Golden Tornadoes eventually stretched their lead to as much as 22-11 before English called a timeout to regroup. English steadied the ship a bit from there, but once again Malden’s lead was too great to overcome and the Golden Tornadoes won the set 25-14.
But in the third set, English plays its best volleyball. The Bulldogs scored the first point and then matched Malden volley for volley the rest of the way. The two sides never got more than two points away from each other, and all of a sudden they found themselves tied at 24-24. Unfortunately, two unforced errors by English allowed Malden to capture the set and win the match.
“We have a young team and all of the girls are individually very skilled players,” said Haddad. “The key now is getting them to play as a cohesive unit as opposed to six players on their own out there. That’s what we’ll drill down on in practice over the next few days as we prepare for the next match.”
English (0-2) travels to Medford Monday (5:30). It’s the first season in the GBL for the Bulldogs, and Haddad thinks the league is a perfect fit for his team.
“We played in an expanded league with the GBL and NEC teams a few years ago, and I always really enjoyed our matches against those GBL teams,” said Haddad. “Many of those matches went four or five sets, so I think the competition level and the parity in the league will be great for us.”
