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Sports

King Philip Girls Volleyball Drops Five-Set Match to Braintree

Warriors mount comeback after falling in the hole, but can't quite overcome early deficit completely, dropping to 5-8 on the season.

Yesterday afternoon, the Braintree girls volleyball team hosted King Philip and came away with the win in a five-set match (25-18, 25-22, 20-25, 23-25, 15-6).

The first game was all Braintree right from the start. The Wamps took an early lead and never looked back, leading the Warriors by as many as 11 at one point. Junior setter Rachel Norton (34 assists) frequently set up her hitters perfectly for good kill opportunities, and they didn’t disappoint by putting the ball away.

“Rachel is awesome,” Braintree coach Kristen Orzechowski said. “She plays every point as hard as she can. You put a wall in front of her she’d run through it to get that ball. She works so hard. She’s so focused. What I love about her is that she’s always thinking. She makes great decisions. She’s one of the most coachable kids I’ve ever had the chance to work with.”

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The second game was a little closer. The Warriors led for about half of the game, but the Wamps big front line enabled them to get a number of blocks and keep the score close. Freshman middle blocker Bridget Herlihy stood out in this game, as well as the first one, as she had 10 blocks for the match, 6 of which were solo.

But the Warriors would come back. They weren’t going to make it easy for the Wamps to come away with a win.

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“We were comfortable,” Orzechowski said. “We were very comfortable, and I think we got a little too comfortable. Unfortunately we love pressure and we love playing under pressure.”

Game three was tightly played throughout the game, but the Warriors were able pull away at the end. Junior outside hitter Miranda Murphy was big throughout the match, and it showed in this game. She finished the match with 30 digs to go along with 5 kills. Junior middle hitter Julie Farabaugh impressed at the net, finishing with 12 blocks.

The fourth game seemed to be all Warriors for much of it until the end, when Braintree seemed to make one last push, highlighted by a couple late kills from Wamps senior outside hitter Jadah Yesufu (8 for the match). But it was too little too late for the Wamps, and the Warriors forced a decisive fifth game.

“In the first and second games we gave away a lot of unforced errors,” King Philip coach Cynthia Souza said. “But in the third game we got determined and we started playing our own game. I think we started to quicken the tempo a little. We were having more serving series where we scored points in a row, and serving and passing is the key to the game. If you’re not passing, then you’re not going to get kills.”

The fifth game was pretty much Braintree all the way. Norton continued to set up her hitters well, while senior libero Abby Lucas did a good job on the receiving end of some hits and serves (14 digs for the match). The Warriors got into an early hole and couldn’t climb out of it, and the Wamps held on to win.

King Philip drops to 5-8 on the season. Last year the Warriors found themselves in a similar position, but were able to string together a few wins to qualify for the state tournament. The host Franklin on Tuesday.

“We still have a shot at the state tournament,” Souza said. “We have to dig in and put a few more wins on the board.”

With the win, the Wamps improve to 9-3 on the season. They’re now about to embark on what may be the toughest part of their schedule, when they play Newton North on Wednesday, Wellesley on Friday and then Brookline on Monday. Orzechowski calls it the “gut check” part of their schedule.

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