By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School Boys’ Volleyball squad’s undefeated streak ended at 18, when the team was overtaken by the Hollis Brookline Cavaliers during the Division I Finals on Saturday night, June 10.
The Lancers entered the state championship as the number one seed, having won every regular season game and got the only bye in the first round.
In the quarterfinals, at home against the Keene High School Blackbirds, LHS zipped past the ninth seed in straight sets, 25-19, 25-17 and 25-15 to move into a semifinal battle with Coe-Brown of Northwood, the number four seed. That match proved to be a bit of a battle for the undefeated Lancers.
After falling 25-19 and 25-18 in the first two sets and needed to rally back in order to stay in the tournament.
The final three sets of that match really gave Londonderry fans something to cheer about, as the team roared back with 25-19, 25-23 and 22-20 victories to advance in the Tourney.
The fourth set had Matt Doyle kept LHS in the match from the serving line while the Lancers won seven consecutive points with after trailing 23-18.
The deciding game had countless lead changes throughout the set and went into a number of extra volleys. The final set also including a few match points that could have forced LHS out of the championship, but they battled back each time for the win.
In the finals, against the number two seeded Hollis-Brookine Cavaliers, the Lancers undefeated winning streak sadly came to an end, losing in the championship match in four, very close sets.
The Lancers dropped the first set 21-25, but came back in the second with a 24-17 victory.
In the third set, LHS had their widest margin loss, dropping that set 25-15, and needing to comeback with two straight wins.
In the fourth and final set, despite Londonderry commanding a number of leads, LHS fell 26-24 in a heart-breaking back-and-forth battle.
Individual points scored in the playoffs are as follows:
In the Quarter Finals against Keene: Spencer Brassard had 10 kills and two digs; Ethan Munro got six kills and two digs; Trevor Edmunds had nine kills and two blocks; Colin Ness had one kill; Camden Normand finished with five kills, eight digs, 18 assists, and one ace; Tyler Brown had nine kills, two blocks, three digs, 12 assists, and two aces; Matt Doyle got 13 digs, three assists, and one ace; Owen Evans had eight digs; Victor Elguezabal tallied nine digs and an ace; Brady Joncas had one dig and one ace; and Kyle Rondeau finished with two digs.
In the Semifinal match against Coe-Brown: Brassard had 10 kills with four digs; Munro got four kills, one block and four digs; Edmunds had six kills, three blocks and a dig; Ness tallied six kills, two blocks and three digs; Brown had eight kills, two blocks, 17 digs, 30 assists, and two aces; Normand got 13 kills, three blocks, five digs, and 14 assists; Doyle got 46 digs and an ace; and Evans had five digs.
In the championship match against Hollis Brookline: Brassard had nine kills; Munro got three kills and one block; Ness had seven kills, two blocks, and a dig; Edmunds got five kills, one block, and a dig; Brown managed 11 kills, one block, 11 digs, 18 assists, and an ace; Normand got seven kills, two blocks, 10 digs, and 18 assists; Doyle had 25 digs, two assists, and an ace; Evans got five digs; Elguezabal had five digs and an ace; and Joncas finished with two digs.
This was just the second time that the Lancers were able to make it to the Championship match. Back in 2011 Londonderry fell 3-1 to Salem High School.