Volleyball team blows past Sharon, Stoughton

Aside from a single loss to league powerhouse North Attleboro, the CHS varsity volleyball team has quietly strung together victory after victory this season and currently leads the Davenport Division with an overall record of 7-1.

Senior Olivia Murphy (Mike Barucci photo)

Two of those wins came on consecutive days last week as the Bulldogs demolished fellow leaguemates Sharon and Stoughton in straight sets.

On Monday, Canton welcomed the Eagles to town, and after cruising to a 25-6 win in the opening set, head coach Pat Cawley turned to her bench, which closed out the match with equally impressive wins of 25-11 and 25-10.

Leading the Bulldogs’ assault was sophomore Avery Devoe, who dominated on offense to the tune of six kills and four blocks. Other top performers included senior outside hitter Sarah Bartlett (3 kills, 5 digs, 7 service points) and junior opposite hitter Lindsey Arthur (2 kills, 6 service points, 1 ace).

“I was quite happy with the work ethic in this match,” said Cawley. “It’s easy to let up when the opponent is having a tough night, but our team had no lapses. We took care of business with an entire team effort.”

On Tuesday at Stoughton, the Bulldogs took on a “much-improved” team that features three six-foot players as well as a boy, but the visitors refused to be intimidated, winning the first two sets by a combined score of 50-27.

The third set proved far more challenging, however, as Stoughton built leads of 8-3 and 16-9 before the Bulldogs roared back to tie the game at 21. The Black Knights did all they could to force a fourth set, but Canton held on for the 28-26 win.

Cawley was particularly impressed with the performance of junior outside hitter Lizzy Doherty, who was instrumental in the comeback and “served under much pressure” to record the game-winning point.

Also playing well for Canton were seniors Hayley Reissfelder and Lauren Hartnett as well as junior Alex Walsh. In addition, Julia Murphy, one of the team’s top players, had an excellent first set, collecting five kills and two blocks to lead the offense.

“It was great to see the team come back from such a large deficit in set three,” Cawley said after the match. “It is a tribute to the entire team that they didn’t give up and believed that they could win that set. This experience will pay dividends down the line if they find themselves in a similar situation.”

Earlier this week the girls hosted Attleboro, and tonight they face their biggest challenge yet — a home match against Franklin, which is currently ranked fourth in the state.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Oct 5 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.