MARBLEHEAD — Marblehead’s varsity volleyball team picked up its second win in a row Tuesday evening against the defending NEC champion Peabody Tanners, with the Magicians taking the match in straight sets.
Marblehead dominated from the jump with impressive efforts on both defense and offense led by Keira Sweetnam and Isabel Wabno. The Magicians got out to a strong start in the first set, going up 10-4 and forcing an early timeout by Peabody head coach Lisa Keene. Peabody would close the gap later in the set to 15-13. Marblehead was able to fend off the push by the Tanners, however, as they went on a 10-3 run to close out the set and win 25-16.
That would be the theme of the night for Marblehead as they were able to continuously hold off Peabody’s comeback attempts.
Wabno attributed her team’s success to their preparation in practice for this matchup.
“We’ve known that team for a long time; we knew where their strong spots were,” she said. “We used everything that we’ve practiced all week, and we were really just able to execute this week.”
Wabno was a key factor in Marblehead’s win as she recorded 18 digs to go along with eight kills and two aces.
Though the Magicians won three sets to none, both teams played great defense, especially in the second, where nearly every point had to be earned. Peabody showed tremendous fight as players were constantly diving and making incredible saves to keep them in the set, and the same was true on the other side of the net for Marblehead. The teams were deadlocked at 16 before Marblehead pulled away to win the set 25-20. Peabody would make another desperate late set run in the third, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Magicians won 25-19 to seal their straight-set victory.
“Individually, we all had to remind ourselves that we had to get under that ball no matter what because one save could completely change our momentum,” said Wabno.
Marblehead libero Caitlin Parkman praised Peabody’s defensive efforts and said it wasn’t easy to get a ball past them.
“They’re a very scrappy, defensive team,” Parkman said. “We knew our offense had to be on point today.”
Keira Sweetnam was certainly on point for Marblehead’s offense as she lead the team with 16 kills and three aces. She also contributed on defense with eight digs and continues to be a machine for the Magicians.
Setters Tamya Johnson and Julia Potvin were also instrumental in the offensive success of their team as they had 15 and 11 assists, respectively.
With such an important win over the defending conference champions, Parkman hopes that the team can continue to build off of their win.
“Peabody is definitely a great team, this was a great win for us, and it definitely gave us some confidence for our next games.”
After dropping their first game of the season to Beverley, Marblehead has now won two games in a row, both in straight sets, to improve their record to 2-1. Next up is a matchup with Winthrop on Thursday, where the Magicians look to make it three wins in a row.
As for Peabody, they drop to 1-1 on the season and hope to bounce back against Ipswich at home on Friday.
Ryan Vermette can be reached at [email protected]
