DANVERS — The struggles continued for the Lynn Classical volleyball team Tuesday evening, with Classical falling to the Danvers Falcons 3-1 on the road.
Classical has now lost three straight after starting the season at 16-0.
The Rams and Falcons traded points in the first set with the score tied at 8-8. Behind senior Chloe Clement’s offensive attack, Classical burst out to a 14-9 lead and forced a Danvers timeout.
The Rams maintained momentum and took the first set at 25-20. Clement had five digs and three aces and was clearly someone that head coach Chris LeBlanc wanted to get the ball to.
Falcons head coach George LeVasseur said that he knew just how talented Clement was heading into the match.
“Luckily a lot of my girls play with Chole (Clement) all year long, so we knew what we were up against,” said LeVasseur. “We knew that Chloe is definitely their offensive workhorse. She had a great game. We worked really hard but she had our number a few times and that was our game plan going in, to really avoid Chloe.”
In the second set, Danvers jumped out to an 8-3 lead but the Rams fought back, narrowing the deficit to just three with the score at 14-11. Classical continued to claw back late in the set, forcing a Falcons timeout. But the comeback effort was too late, as Danvers took the set at 25-21.
“I think at this point in the season, there needs to be a certain sense of urgency from our kids and I just didn’t see that tonight,” said LeBlanc. “Until it was too late, until we were well past the point of it mattering. We played a five-set match last night so I don’t know if the kids were just gassed, but this is the first time all year that I can say that we just didn’t come out and answer the bell.”
The third set was a close battle, as both sides traded blows throughout the set with the score eventually coming tied at 20-20. Danvers was able to jump out to a 23-20 lead and that was all that was needed, as the Falcons took the third set at 25-21.
Tess Vontzalides provided great service for Danvers as she recorded five aces in the first three sets, with three of those aces coming in the third set.
The fourth set seemed like it was going to be dominated by the Falcons, but the Rams didn’t go down without a fight. But once again, Classical got into the set too late and lost the fourth and final set at 25-20.
The Falcons got great play from sophomore Kaitlyn Cicerone, who tallied three kills and six digs against the Rams.
Classical is now 16-3 and plays Swampscott on Friday (5:30) to wrap up the regular season.
