PEABODY — The Marblehead girls volleyball defeated Peabody in four sets (3-1) on Monday evening at Peabody High. After losing the first set (25-27), the Magicians won the next three straight sets (25-15, 25-16, and 25-21) to get the road win.
“I thought we started off strong. We won our first set 27-25, then they kind of got down on themselves once we were down a few points. It’s hard for them to get back in it, in that fourth set we came back a little bit,” Peabody’s first-year coach Sherill Erickson said. “We are still figuring some things out. It’s still early. Overall I thought they played well.”
Erickson’s message to the girls is simple after a tough loss, “stay positive”.
“They got to stay up for every single point, they can’t get down on themselves. If they miss a hit or a serve, or pass the ball out of bounds, they just have to stay up and be positive,” Erickson said.
Lizzy Bettencourt (7) led the way for the Tanners with a team-high in kills and Mackenzie Landry (4) in assists in their comeback effort after winning the first set.
Peabody looked great in their first set, in an intense set going back and forth, then going on to win at 27-25, but the Magicians looked like a team on a mission.
“Our kids have been working really hard to raise our level… Peabody came out really strong today. We were super flat, we have had this problem for the last couple of matches and I am really proud of them for turning it around and winning the next three,” Marblehead coach Killeen Miller said. “We knew where we wanted to go and we did it.”
The Magicians dominated the next three sets winning 25-15, 25-16, and 25-21.
Mari Modryznska led the Magicians with nine kills. Eva Burke finished with 28 assists, and Megan Parkman had 11 digs to propel their team to a win.
“We just got to keep working, we come out and haven’t been able to handle stress well and we work really hard and intensely in practice on managing that stress and living in that stress and you saw in the first game. That stress kind of got to us, but then our kids pulled it out. Our goal is that we can only go from here and we have to keep leveling up in those moments in big competition and playing our game confidently,” Miller said.
Marblehead will look to build off this dominant performance as it takes on Beverly at home on Wednesday. Peabody will look to bounce back on the road against intracity rival, Bishop Fenwick on Thursday.
Owen Finn is a student at Endicott College studying journalism
