LYNN — The Lynn Classical volleyball team remained atop the Greater Boston League with a 3-1 victory over Malden on home hardwood.
In September, Malden defeated Lynn Classical, 3-2, and entered with an 8-2 record. A loss for the Lady Rams (9-1) on Wednesday would have seen Malden owning the tiebreaker.
Although the Lady Rams won convincingly, it was a difficult start in a 25-15 first-set defeat.
“My message was that we’re playing at a-half-a-step slow. We were letting them dictate tempo and pace, and we’re playing to them and not being the aggressor,” said Classical coach Chris LeBlanc. “We play better when we’re setting the tempo and pace and forcing them to play to us.”
The Lady Rams got out to a strong start in the second set, going up 6-2 before a Malden player suffered from an injury. She and a Classical player each went after the ball around the net, and unfortunately for Malden, it appeared to be a broken ankle.
The action was put on pause for more than 30 minutes.
“It’s tough – to see that kid go down is so unfortunate. A lot of times when you see injuries during volleyball, it’s when two kids both go for the ball at the net and one foot gets under the other,” LeBlanc said. “That’s so tough and the team and I feel so bad for her and the Malden team. It’s a bad situation. We gave Malden the option if they wanted to continue or not and they said they wanted to play. I give Malden all the credit in the world for wanting to play through that.”
When teams returned, Classical upped its tempo, while Malden struggled without one of its key players.
The Lady Rams, led by captain Amanda Hughes, went up big thanks to three of her aces to make it 20-6. Then, on a set point, Jaiyda DeBenedetto’s kill sealed the second set, 25-8.
“She (Hughes) was really good all night. I think in the first set, she struggled a little, but in those last three sets, she was nails. I don’t think she missed many balls all night,” LeBlanc said. “She was really good tonight.”
In the third set, junior Emma Chevalier and middle blocker Brooke Braswell started to show their skill levels as Chevalier racked up assists and Braswell showed her dominance at the net to help fuel Classical to a 25-5 set victory.
“Emma Chevalier had a great night. She finished with 28 assists tonight,” LeBlanc said. “From the serving line, Brooke Braswell was great. She put up five or six aces and no errors, which is phenomenal.”
Going into the fourth set, it was a bit of déjà vu for the Lady Rams as their match against Malden in September was set up just like it was Wednesday evening.
That time, Malden came back for the victory, but not this time.
“When we played them earlier in the year, we lost the first set, then won the next two and had a match point in the fourth, but let them back in the game,” LeBlanc said. “We reminded them that they’ve seen this before and told them, this time, they need to finish it. They did.”
Despite Malden playing better in the final set, Classical had too much momentum and capitalized with a 25-14 win after a Braswell kill sealed the evening.
Classical has three league matches remaining and looks to win the league for good. Before it can get to winning the league, however, the Lady Rams will travel to Springfield to participate in the International Volleyball Hall of Fame Tournament at American International College. It’s an endowment tournament, but will be useful competition for the team, according to LeBlanc, whose Lady Rams will play a total of seven games.
