It had all the implications of a title match between heavyweight fighters.
Match photos click here.
It had all the implications of a title match between heavyweight fighters.
The Badger Braves came into their volleyball match with the Newbury Black Knights in Black Knight Gymnasium unbeaten and atop the Northeastern Athletic Conference standings.
Newbury was hot on their heels with just a single loss on the season, but Badger left for home after the match with a two-game edge on Newbury after a thrilling 3-1 victory. Scores were 25-20, 21-25, 25-12 and 25-22.
“I’m really proud of our effort tonight,” Newbury coach Michael Chaffee said. “There’s good reason for Badger to be unbeaten. They’re a fundamentally sound team that makes plays in a lot of different ways. In that third set, we just lost our concentration for too long.
“We need to be more consistently aggressive, but after graduating so many seniors from our great team of last year, I wasn’t sure of how well the younger girls from that team would step up for their own time to shine this year. We’re 9-2 now, so they really have stepped up well, and it’s so much for them to be proud of.”
Both teams traded spectacular plays over the first two sets as each team won one.
Tied early in the third set at 3-3, a well placed dink by Madison Cauffield gave the Braves a 4-3 lead. With a 9-6 score, up stepped Grace Eucker to serve, and eight points later, Badger (12-0, 10-0 in NAC) had a double digit lead, the Black Knights seemed deflated, and one had to wonder if they could come back.
They did.
Led by seniors Ellie Clark, Malarie Eggleston and Sage Neidbalson, all of whom played huge roles in this matchup with big plays at important times, Newbury came back well in the fourth set to take an early six-point lead before losing.
“We will get another chance at them later in the season,” Chaffee said. “A big difference in playing them is that we can make some plays against some better teams, but against an elite team like they are, those plays don’t always work so well. That happened tonight, but at the same time, there’s always room for growth on any team, and that holds true for us as well. I’m proud of how our girls are playing and conducting themselves.”
