Redmen Roundup: Freshman Volleyball Unbeaten At Tournament

Volleyball

Editor's note: This information was submitted by TMHS Volleyball Coach Jim Ray.

Freshmen go unbeaten at tournament

The _Tewksbury High_ school girl’s freshmen volleyball team competed in a 6 team tournament hosted by Belmont High School.

Very few of these opportunities arise for freshmen volleyball, so when they were offered the chance to play, the Redmen took advantage to prove their mettle against stiff competition.

Tewksbury finished the day undefeated 5-0. The tournament featured teams from Reading, Melrose and three Belmont teams.  The format for the tournament was as follows: each team would play 1 set against each other with an unlimited/no-c ap scoring count, 25 minutes continuous play clock for each set. 

The Redmen opened the day’s event against Reading.  Although Tewksbury started off a bit sluggish they rebounded nicely and began to make solid passes to their setters, who in turn, made some very good sets to their attackers.  Tewksbury won the opening match 33-26.

Next up for the Redmen was a very well -grounded Melrose team.  This was a hard fought match between two exceptional teams.  There were many scoring changes throughout the set.  As one team took a lead the other would close the gap and over take the lead.  As time lapsed, the buzzer sounded and the scoreboard revealed that Tewksbury prevailed 33-31.    

Tewksbury’s next match put them up against Belmont 1.  From whistle to whistle, Tewksbury dominated play; running away with a decisive 43-21 win.  In match four, Belmont 2 came to the court with bigger, quicker players than Belmont 1.

Tewksbury rose to the challenge by being assertive and capitalizing on some blocks and running plays, such as a “Slide”, which caught the Belmont team off guard.  Tewksbury pulled away late in the set and won by the score of 28-22.  Lastly, Belmont 3 faced off against Tewksbury.  With their undefeated record on the line the Redmen wanted to preserve a perfect record.  Coming on strong at the onset with superior serving, smart setting and good outside hitting, the Redmen closed out the day with a 34-24 victory thus walking away with a perfect 5-0 record.

The team played very well throughout the tournament.  The Redmen had everything clicking including serving aggressively, passing well, assertive defensive techniques, and top notch setting.  Tewksbury dominated at the net all the day as the front court attacked smartly and came up with many timely blocks.  The freshmen, along with the JV and Varsity teams will compete this week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  They host Wilmington on Monday, travel to Billerica on Wednesday and close out the week against Division 2 rival Dracut; all games start at 4PM.    

Varsity

Tewksbury def. Bedford, 25-11, 15-25, 25-13, 17-25, 15-11

On Friday the Tewksbury High School girls Volleyball team hosted non-league opponent Bedford.  The Redmen jumped out to a commanding lead by Senior Outside Hitter Missy Cordwell.

Connecting for four early kills and setting the tone for easy win 25-11 win against the Buccaneers.  Tewksbury’s luck however, waned in the second set as Bedford found a way to score against the Redmen defense.  “Bedford starting tipping on us into shallow zone six and we couldn’t come up with the dig.  That area of the floor is always a concern for any team”.

Bedford walked away with a 25-15 win.  In set three Tewksbury came out swinging lead by senior Middle Hitter Kelli Sugrue.  Sugrue notched 5 of her team leading 13 kills of the evening while Junior Lindsey Andella picked up 3 kills and 4 blocks enroute to a 25-13 thrashing. 

Bedford was not giving up too easily entering set four.  Tewksbury kept Bedford at bay by changing defensive posture in set three by covering the middle of court taking away the tip attack.  Bedford recognized that and began to shoot the ball to the corners beating the Redmen defense.

Libero Tiffany Marsh, who accumulated 18 digs on the night, scrambled most of set four trying to keep the ball in play.  “Tiff really worked hard in set four, she swept the back court lines as fast as she could, but Bedford was pretty crafty”.  Jenn Iannacci had her hands full trying to counter the Bedford Middle.  “Bedford’s middle was hitting high over Jenn after a couple of stuff blocks up front.  She shut that player down and then she rolled the shot over her to deep corners, we are up covering tips leaving our corners exposed”.  Bedford forced a deciding game five by winning the set 25-17.

The deciding fifth set is a race to 15 points.  Tewksbury found themselves in a hole early 0-4.  Kelli Sugrue and Missy Cordwell came alive once again finishing off Bedford.  “Kelli and Missy were hot in set five; they came up with some timely kills and lead the offense”.

Tewksbury won the thrilling set 15-11.  Defensive Specialist Emily Dunbar came into the game during set five and made two miraculous saves to keep the Bedford from scoring. Senior Sammy Laferrier playing on the right side ended the night with8 kills and 6 digs.  Alyson Mulloy amassed 6 digs and 2 serving aces.  The setting duo of Shannon McLaughlin and Jenn Cobuccio played exceptionally well.

Cross Country

Tewksbury runners perform well at invitational meets

The Tewksbury boys cross country team was in action over the weekend, running in the Frank Kelley Invitational Meet Division 1 in Wrentham.

Brian Amaral turned in a sensational performance, placing second in the Division 1 race behind Methuen's Mike O'Donnell, in 16:02.7.  Cory Thomas placed 36th in 17:00, Joe Darrigo was 62nd in 17:23, Mike Famiglietti was 76th in 17:35 and Nick Souza was 96th in 17:45.

Anthony Darrigo placed fourth in the JV race in 17:47. Sam Traynor placed 27th in the freshman race in 11:12.

The Tewksbury girls cross country team was south of the border, running at the Ocean State Invitational in Warwick, R.I..

Samantha McGouldrick placed 108th in 22:07, Caitlyn Leary placed 115th, in 22:19, Rachel McCabe placed 118th in 22:23 and Olivia Boudreau placed 127th in 22:37.

Eva Barinelli finished 21st in 22:56 and Grace Canavan was 30th in 23:14 in the JV race. Meanwhile, in the freshman race, Kirsten Dick finished sixth in 12:17.