Published November 6, 2019
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
SOFIA CIRIELLO had two aces, helping the Pioneers set the tone with their serving during their victory over North Reading in the Div. 2 North’s first round. Lynnfield hosted Tewksbury in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. (Dan Pawlowski File Photo)
LYNNFIELD — In the regular season, the Lynnfield High volleyball team beat North Reading both times. Last Saturday night, the Pioneers hosted the Hornets in the first round of the Division 2 North state tournament.
The Pioneers rolled to a 3-0 win to stay undefeated as they have still not dropped a set this fall.
With that victory, the top-seeded Pioneers improved to 21-0 while the 16th-seeded Hornets ended the season at 11-9.
Lynnfield won the three games 25-19, 25-23, and 25-15.
“It was a weird atmosphere because several of our possible opponents showed up for the match,” explained Pioneers head coach Brent Ashley. “It seemed like there were more of them than our own fans.”
Sophia Wilkinson had 16 assists and 14 service points while Melissa Morelli had 12 kills and 10 assists.. Ashley Pagliuca led the team in service points with 16.
“Our serving won us this match,” said Ashley. “North Reading has improved a lot since the two times we played them in the regular season. They are going to be a tough challenge for us next year.”
On Tuesday night, the Pioneers hosted Tewksbury in the quarterfinal round (results not available at press time).
If they won that match, they would play on Thursday in the semifinal round against the winner of the Lynn Classical-Melrose match. That potential match would be on Thursday night 7 p.m. at Danvers High.
