Volleyball season ends with tourney loss to Milford
By Jay TurnerThe CHS girls’ volleyball season came to an abrupt end Friday night when the slumping Bulldogs, already losers of three straight heading into the match, fell to seventh seeded Milford 3-0 in the opening round of the Division 2 central sectional tournament.
Canton, which came in as the 10th seed, once again had the unenviable task of traveling on the road to take on a tough non-league opponent with a superior record, and while the girls more than held their own throughout several long stretches of the match, the talent on the Milford squad proved too much to overcome in the end.
As CHS head coach Pat Cawley noted afterward, “Division 2 central volleyball is the hotbed of volleyball in the state,” and Canton, which has suffered early round heartbreak in previous seasons, just so happens to be in that group every year.
“To be the state champs, you have to beat the best,” Cawley acknowledged, adding that her team was “as ready as we could be” against Milford.
The problem for Canton in the early going was its offense, which struggled to find any rhythm as the Hawks built an 11-5 lead. Milford went on to win the set 25-16; however, two powerful kills by Paige Chaifetz and excellent blocking from Julia and Olivia Murphy and Colleen Myers helped keep the Bulldogs within striking distance.
Canton then played a much better second set, with Anna Amico, Mellyn Costello, and Chaifetz leading the defense, and Julia and Olivia Murphy, Myers, and Alison McHugh leading the offense. It was only at the very end of the set, when the Bulldogs had trouble receiving serve, that the Hawks were able to eke out a victory (25-23).
In the third set, the Bulldogs jumped out to a quick lead behind hard-hitting Julia Murphy, setter Shannon Brady, and solid blocking from both Murphys and freshman Avery Devoe. However, Milford slowly chipped away at the lead, making big plays when it counted en route to a 25-21 match-clinching victory.
“In the end, their strong hitting and powerful serves were too much for us to handle,” Cawley said of the Hawks.
Earlier in the week, in Canton’s regular season finale, the Bulldogs fell in similar fashion (25-21, 25-17, 25-15) to a Melrose team that was 17-2 at the time and ranked 11th in the state. Cawley said they went into the match with the mindset that “all things are possible if you believe.”
“We played them tough, tougher than the score indicates,” she said. “There were many long rallies and we made many good plays, but seemed to fall short at the end of those rallies.”
Julia Murphy led the Bulldogs with 10 kills, eight blocks, and 20 digs, and Brady did a good job distributing the ball, finishing with 23 assists. Junior Sarah Bartlett also had a solid performance, playing in all three sets and finishing without a hitting error in 16 attempts.
Canton, which won the Davenport Division with a perfect 8-0 record, finished the season just north of .500 at 10-9 overall.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=2089
Posted by Jay Turner
on Nov 11 2010. Filed under High School, Sports.
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