PEABODY — When No. 32 Peabody hosted No. 33 Brockton in Thursday’s Division 1 action, it was bound to be a close match. In the end, the teams needed five sets to determine the winner with the Tanners escaping in scores of 24-26, 25-16, 19-25. 25-20, and 15-13.
Brockton held an 11-6 cushion in the fifth set. Truth be told, it looked as if Peabody’s offseason was about to begin.
Insert junior Yorna Demiri, who turned the set around. Demiri registered three aces and Peabody went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-11 lead.
The script was completely flipped.
“She doesn’t usually serve. She is a great server and she crushed the serves today. It was great to see and she helped us win the game,” said first-year Peabody coach Sherrill Erickson. “The fifth set is always challenging because it’s only to 15. Being down five points early was tough. They fought so hard and it was great teamwork by them to come back.”
Experience was on Peabody’s side, as the Tanners didn’t break when things got tough.
“We’ve had four or five games that went to the fifth set. It was do or die, we have six seniors, and we didn’t want to send them home,” Erickson said.
The first set was looking bright for Peabody as it held an 18-14 lead. However, Brockton rallied, getting the game to 22-21. The visitors went on a 5-2 run to steal the first set.
Brockton coach Emily Burke said her team has worked on its mental toughness all season long.
“We worked really hard to limit our errors and be mentally tough. We had a few games in which we had too many unforced errors and they worked on their mental toughness,” Burke said.
For Peabody, it’s used to responding, and that’s exactly what the Tanners did with an emphatic 25-16 second-set win.
“We’ve done it for most of the year. We’d go down a set and then bounce back pretty quickly. It doesn’t always mean we’ll win the set, but we will make it competitive. Today, we tied it, 1-1, then went down again and came back,” Erickson said.
Burke praised her team for how it played and expressed how hard it was to fall short.
“I thought they played great. I think that was the highest level they played all year, so that was great to see them all come together,” Burke said. “We had some girls who recently were on JV step up and play. I’m proud of the entire team. It stinks to not finish, but it was a really good game.”
Peabody turns its focus to top-ranked Newton North. That match will be Saturday at 1 p.m. as the Tanners look to cash in an early upset.
“It’s going to be fun for these kids,” Erickson said. “We have one day of practice and then we’re on the road to Newton North to play the No. 1 seed. We hope we can go there and pull off the upset.”
