Back on Sept. 23, the Londonderry High School girls’ volleyball team was able to boast of a 7-2 record and to look forward to accomplishing quite a bit more in its division.
But since then, the Lady Lancers have stumbled considerably and they saw their 2015 record even at 8-8 last week with a pair of defeats.
By last weekend, coach Dave Starin’s LHS crew had dropped six of the seven matches it had played since Sept. 23, and it entered this week aiming to climb back over the .500 mark and head toward the tournament with more positive momentum.
Londonderry slipped to 8-7 with a 3-0 loss to the streaking Dover High Green Wave on the seacoast Wednesday, Oct. 14.
The 11-4 hosts bagged their fourth consecutive victory that evening, collecting individual game wins of 25-16, 25-17, and 25-14.
The local squad received 13 digs from Becca Feenstra, 12 assists from Shannon Sonia, and eight kills and two shot blocks from Ally O’Neil.
The Lady Lancers appeared to have a great chance to come home from Keene with a victory last Friday night, Oct. 16, when they stepped into the 2-12 Lady Blackbirds’ home gym. The Keene crew had dropped six consecutive matches up to that point, but it was their Senior Night and that may well have proven significant.
Londonderry gave Keene a real battle, but in the end the hosts snared a 3-2 match victory.
The Lady Blackbirds bagged game one (25-23), Londonderry won game two (25-16), Keene took game three (25-23), Londonderry knotted the match score at 2-2 by winning game four (25-17), but the hosts plowed their way to a 15-3 victory in the deciding fifth contest and took the match.
The LHS bunch was then back home on its own court for its Monday match with Manchester Memorial, and the locals’ schedule had them slated to finish their regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at Merrimack High School, after Londonderry Times press time.
In the Monday meeting with Manchester Memorial’s Lady Crusaders, the Lady Lancers took advantage of the fact that they were facing a far weaker opponent (1-15 record) in bagging a 3-1 match win that pointed them back toward the winning path.