SWAMPSCOTT —- It wasn’t one for the faint of heart at Swampscott High Wednesday night, as the Big Blue (11-10) ran out of magic in the fifth set of their 3-2 loss to the Falmouth Clippers (22-25, 13-25, 26-24, 25-21, 8-15).
In the preliminary round of the MIAA Division III tournament, it was No. 32 Swampscott hosting No. 33 Falmouth, each fighting for the Round of 32.
Even as the Big Blue pushed the match to five sets after being down 2-0, they fell just short in the barn-burner.
Although the first two sets were filled with errors, Swampscott coach Amanda Clement was thrilled with her team’s bounceback effort.
“The first two sets weren’t our best… all it took was a spark, and once they had it, they ran with it,” Clement said. “[The players’] attitudes started to change because they were excited about [the comeback], and then, one win led to another.”
The energy from the home fans never settled, and the intensity became palpable as Swampscott mounted its comeback.
In the third set, The Big Blue were down by as much as five before knotting things up (22-22) thanks to three straight kills from Fayth Bascon (7 kills).
The Clippers regained the lead at 24-22, putting the Big Blue one point from elimination, but four straight scores gave Swampscott the set win — and all the momentum.
In another close one, Swampscott held onto its late lead and took the fourth set, sending the gym into pandemonium.
The crowd was a factor, according to Clement.
“We’ve been doing it all year, fighting against the big teams,” Clement said. “We’ve been taking sets off here and there, so we’re kind of used to the hype. Once we got [the hype from the crowd], we can feed off it.”
Jamila Oriakhi (15 assists, 3 aces) led the way, distributing to five teammates for kills. Two massive blocks from Brooke Farnum (6 kills, 2 blocks) set the tone defensively.
But in the final stage, Swampscott saw its comeback effort come to a halt, sending Falmouth onto No. 1 Medfield in the Round of 32.
Despite 10 players graduating this spring, Clement is looking forward to the future of the program.
“We have five sophomores currently on the team, and they all played… our freshman and JV programs have been doing excellent. We’re doing summer league stuff for the younger kids, we’re getting them into club volleyball, and we’re building a community — a program — which we didn’t really have before,” she said.
When asked about the season, Clement kept things positive.
“They just played great; they played their hearts out,” she said. “I’m just really encouraged for the future.”
