SAUGUS — The Saugus volleyball team showed its resilience Thursday evening, but the effort wasn’t good enough as the Northeast Metro Knights pulled out a 3-0 win at Saugus Middle-High School.
For Sachems head coach Gina Vozzella, the rough start got in the heads of her players.
“Overall, I think a lot better than our last match (versus Northeast Metro),” she said when asked how her side performed. “We knew what to expect this time around. Unfortunately once we get down a few points they (the Saugus players) get right in their heads and just kind of stoop down.”
It was a homecoming for one Northeast player, as Saugus resident Mya Kelly played against her local high school. She registered five aces and Northeast head coach Marty Horkan said that Kelly was pumped up for the match.
The Knights broke out to a 4-2 lead in the first set, with the Sachems clawing back to tie things up at six points apiece. Northeast then found its rhythm and broke out to a 15-10 lead before forcing a Saugus timeout with the Knights leading 18-10.
After the timeout, the Sachems responded well. After going down 23-13, Saugus climbed back to shorten the deficit to five points and force a Northeast timeout. The Knights also found their game after the timeout, as they took the first set 25-19.
The second set was a contested affair, with both sides trading points with the score at 6-6. Northeast gained a slight lead but once again the Sachems showed their resilience and clawed back to tie things up midway through the set. The Knights’ service ended up being the key as they took the set 25-20.
Ernidia Goncalves was a crucial part of Northeast’s success on Thursday night. She was all over the scoresheet, racking up eight kills, three digs, and four aces.
Northeast once again found themselves out in front early with a 6-4 lead at the start of the third set. The Knights extended their lead to 15-9, but Saugus mounted a comeback effort once more as they narrowed the deficit to 16-12.
Still, Northeast took the third and final set after Morgan Vieira had four aces to stop any momentum that Saugus had and clinch the victory with a score of 25-15.
After the match, Horkan was pleased with the resilience his squad showed, especially in the final set.
“I thought they played really well,” he said. I thought that they were especially resilient in the third game, especially when their fans got rowdy and I think we responded really nicely there.”
Saugus fell to 2-12 this season and faces Danvers Monday (5:15).
