Warriors travel to Wilmington tomorrow
Published in the October 18, 2017 edition
JUNIOR Eadeen Beck (5) times up a leap for a kill during the first set of Wakefield’s match against Watertown at the Charbonneau Field House last night. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The WMHS volleyball team returned home to the Charbonneau Field House last night, looking to rebound from two losses in Belmont and Burlington last week.
The Warriors met Watertown, a team they beat earlier in the season.
Wakefield found their rhythm early in this one, as junior Jaime Greatorex capped off a good run with a powerful spike for a kill that gave the Warriors an 8-4 lead and forced the Raiders to call a timeout.
Senior Nicole Catino hit back-to-back aces to give Wakefield a 15-10 lead, and senior Marissa Patti followed that up with a kill from a tough angle, sending it horizontally down the centerline to add to the lead.
Patti made sure aces stayed wild in the first set, as she served a line drive that Watertown couldn’t handle, pushing Wakefield’s lead to nine. The Warriors’ play of the set came on a nicely executed bump, set and spike from junior Eadeen Beck, senior Ally Coggswell and Patti to make it 22-13. Senior Julia Purcell added one more ace to the deck and the Warriors won the set comfortably, 25-17.
Patti and Coggswell set the tone in the second set when Patti bumped Watertown’s serve in the middle to Coggswell, took a few steps back and ran into a nice return pass before emphatically giving the Warriors a kill for a 3-1 lead.
The Raiders battled hard to stay in the set, and with Wakefield holding on to a 7-6 lead, Purcell stepped up to serve and hit four aces in a row to help the Warriors take back control. Wakefield would get seven straight with Purcell serving before Watertown got a side out.
Later in the set during a nice rally between the two teams, the Warriors got two diving digs from Catino and sophomore Jordyn Pugsley to keep the play alive, before Catino finished it with a kill and a 17-10 advantage. After consecutive Raider points, senior Julia Brown hit a decisive spike straight down from the middle of the net, bringing a loud cheer from her teammates on the bench. Watertown cut the lead down to 22-18, but the Warriors would hold on as a Beck kill ended the set at 25-20.
Watertown responded well in the third set to keep their chances alive in this one. The two teams battled back and forth and alternated points late, at one point tying it at 25. The Raiders got the final two points for a 27-25 win in set three, forcing the Warriors to restart their focus for a fourth set.
Wakefield drew up a game plan to go to Patti early and often in the fourth set, as the senior outside hitter picked up the first point off of another nice feed from Coggswell. That seemed to jump start the Warriors, and Patti continued to dominate the left side of the floor as she got the first five points of the set for Wakefield. WMHS put together a nice team effort in the fourth and Coggswell’s ace ended the match, giving Wakefield a 25-15 win in set number four, and 3-1 match win.
The Warriors will look to build on this win when they travel to Wilmington tomorrow at 5 p.m. Wakefield will follow that up with back-to-back home games against Peabody on Monday and Melrose on Tuesday.
