NORTH ANDOVER — Despite battling back from two sets down to tie up the match, the No. 14 Peabody volleyball team didn’t quite have enough magic to come back all the way and fell to No. 3 North Andover by a score of 3-2 in the Division 1 tournament Round of 16 Tuesday evening at North Andover High School.
The Tanners fell by set scores of 15-25, 16-25, 25-12. 25-16, 11-15.
“Overall it was an incredible match and it was great that we fought back like that,” said Peabody coach Lisa Keene, who last week was named the Northeastern Conference Coach of the Year. “All of the girls stepped up, just like they have all year, but it was a different level (Tuesday).”
Kristina Cardello had a great night for the Tanners with 17 digs and 11 service points, while Isabel Bettencourt added 14 kills and 23 digs. Abby Bettencourt had a big all-around game with 34 assists, eight kills and 11 service points, while Sarah Broughton had 15 kills and Lauryn Mendonca added four kills and three blocks. Allison Flewelling, Meg Price, Michaela Alperen, Elayna Capone, Gabbie Martinez, Kaya Grabowski and Katie Amico also played well in the loss.
It wasn’t the hottest start for the Tanners, as North Andover rushed out to a 14-7 lead and quickly stretched it to 20-12 before Peabody called a timeout. But the timeout wasn’t enough to throw off the Knights, who quickly closed out the set and went ahead in the match.
The second set was a bit different, with the two sides battling back and forth for the first half of the set. But after North Andover took a 9-8 lead and then went ahead 15-11, Peabody called a timeout and things went downhill. The Knights closed the set on a 10-5 run, pushing the Tanners back on their heels by going up two sets to none.
North Andover took the first point in the third set, but then Peabody turned the tables. The Tanners raced ahead 4-1 and then went up 10-5 before North Andover called a timeout, and Peabody kept rolling from there. After stretching its lead to 11 points, the Tanners took the set and kept themselves alive.
The fourth set went back and forth for a bit, but Peabody still had some momentum and used it to pull ahead 15-7. The Tanners went up by 10 points shortly after, and after a big block from Flewelling to win the set, the match stood tied at 2-2.
“We did a great job getting them out of their system a number of times, and those might have been the best two sets we played all year,” said Keene. “We talk all the time about how we’re a small team, but we have to play bigger than we are. Defensively, we had one of our best games all year.”
But unfortunately for the Tanners, the magic didn’t last. North Andover came out hot in the fifth set and jumped ahead 11-6, and the Tanners didn’t have quite enough firepower to battle all the way back.
Peabody closes out its season at 16-5.
“It’s been an incredible year with a great group of girls,” said Keene. “This group has so many extremely talented and intelligent volleyball players, and it’s one of the most fun groups to coach.”
