After completing its first three matches of the 2018 season, the Londonderry High boys’ volleyball squad had put in considerable effort but was still seeking its first game win.
New coach Jon Buatti’s LHS bunch – which began its campaign with a 3-0 loss to Buatti’s old high school squad Salem – was then blanked by both Mascenic Regional of New Ipswich and the rival Pinkerton Academy Astros last week in slipping to 0-3 on the campaign.
The Lancers saw their record slip to 0-2 with the shutout loss to the visiting Mascenic contingent at LHS last Wednesday, April 11.
Mascenic tallied game victories of 25-17, 25-20, and 25-20 in taking the match. The Lancers’ top individual contributions came from Logan Agrella (12 assists, two digs), James Buttafuoco (seven kills, five digs, two blocks), Patrick Cohen (three kills, three digs), and Matt Nickerson and Josh Ryan (five digs apiece).
Two afternoons later the Londonderry crew made the short ride over to Derry to take on undefeated Pinkerton. And the result was another 3-0 blanking for the LHS crew.
Pinkerton bagged individual game wins of 25-20, 25-8, and 25-19 in taking the match handily.
In the first game of the match the Lancer squad made it a lot closer than Pinkerton would have like as they got the game as close as four points by the games ending.
Londonderry’s top individual efforts came from Agrella (six assists), Ryan (five digs), Buttafuoco (three kills, one block, one dig), and Abhy Patel (five digs).
The Lancers then had the weekend off before heading to Nashua on Monday April 16 to take on Bishop Guertin.
Both squads headed into that match winless, with host Guertin sitting at 0-2 and Londonderry at 0-3. But the home-standing Cardinals notched their first win in a 3-0 shutout.
Guertin took game victories of 25-21, 25-7, and 25-18 despite good individual Londonderry performances from Agrella (10 assists) and Buttafuoco (five kills).
In the wake of that match, the Lancers were scheduled to play Keene High on Wednesday and Winnacunnet High Warriors.