SWAMPSCOTT– The 31-seeded Big Blue won their preliminary round matchup against the 35-seeded Bulldogs of Montachusett Tech in straight sets to advance to the 32 team bracket Wednesday night at Swampscott High School.
Swampscott won in straight set scores of 25-16, 25-21, and 25-22. Despite posting a regular season record of 7-11, the Big Blue earned themselves a home play-in game in the MIAA Division 3 State Tournament. Montachusett (10-9) came in with a better regular season record, but Swampscott was and played like the better team.
The Big Blue immediately jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set, but Montachusett bounced back quickly, scoring five points in a row to make it a 7-5 game. Swampscott seemed a bit frantic early— not making good contact with the ball and lacking communication. The playoff nerves were shaken off as the set went on, however, and the Big Blue started to find their groove. Better communication led to less indecisiveness down the stretch and Swampscott took a 16-12 lead, forcing the Bulldogs to call timeout.
The pause in action didn’t slow down Swampscott, closing out the set on a 9-4 run.
Swampscott, again, ran into trouble at the beginning of the second set. The Big Blue fell behind 6-3 and communication errors started to become an issue once more. Down 15-10, the Big Blue stayed composed and erased Montachusett’s lead. A few points later, both teams found themselves tied at 17 and traded blows with one another, each inching closer and closer to the winning 25th point. Swampscott landed more punches down the stretch, and won the second set by four in what was the turning point of the match.
After the game, Swampscott libero Sofia Comfort talked about how her team remained composed, even after making errors that kept Montachusett in the match.
“New point, new you,” she said. “Just bring the energy that comes from the highs and erase the lows.”
Montachusett wouldn’t back down. The Bulldogs took the lead again in the third set, 6-4. Swampscott quickly snatched it back at 10-7, but the stingy Montachusett team fought back a few points later to tie things at 15.
Interim Head Coach Amanda Clement called timeout after the Bulldogs tied the match in an attempt to have the Big Blue regain control. It seemed to have worked briefly. Swampscott scored four straight out of the stoppage, but Montachusett refused to throw in the towel.
The Bulldogs, yet again, tied the set at 22 and the match was at risk of going to a fourth set. However, on the final two points of the game, junior Jamila Oriakhi and Fayth Bascon shut down the comeback attempt and clinched a postseason victory for their team. Oriakhi sent a serve over the net that Montachusett wasn’t able to corral for the 24th point, and Bascon closed it out with a spike.
Clement said the timeout was called to refocus the players, and remind them of how capable a team they are.
“I said to them ‘shake off whatever you’re feeling, because we’re better than this’”, she said. “It was more so just to regroup them because it was spiraling a bit. I told them ‘stop doing the extra and focus on the basics, and it will work out.’”
Swampscott doesn’t have a lot of time to celebrate the playoff win, which might be a good thing as the Big Blue advance to face No. 2 Tewksbury on the road this Thursday at 5 p.m.
Clement isn’t unaware of the fact that her team will be huge underdogs going into this contest, but notes that the team has played well against similar opponents this season, and anything can happen in the playoffs.
“The girls have been playing so hard this year, and I feel like the better the team we play against, the better we play,” Clement said. “Even the ones we’ve lost this year against great teams, we’ve stayed with them, we’ve battled. I’m encouraged and really hopeful we can pull it out.”
Ryan Vermette can be reached at [email protected]
