RallyNorth.net

NORTHBOROUGH — Central Catholic looked poised to force a fifth game.

The Raiders, trailing the match 2-1, had a 23-20 lead in game No. 4.

But then something familiar happened — New Bedford star Maura Manley took over.

MELROSE — The Central Catholic bench players stood up withsmiles covering all their faces and paraded over to the right side of the benchto watch match point, eagerly waiting to charge the court and celebrate theirreturn to the state title game.

LAWRENCE — Two of the tallest local volleyball programsCentral Catholic and Methuen — who have a combined five key players who are6-feet or more — faced each other in a Division 1 North semifinal yesterday.

Unbeaten and top-seeded Central Catholic found smooth sailing in its Division 1 North volleyball tourney opener, crunching Dracut in three straight. Carolyn Eddy dished out 27 assists for the 19-0 Raiders, who were balanced and strong up front. Katie Zenevitch. Kendall Desrosiers and Corrine Gosselin combined for 25 kills for Central, which hosts Methuen in Thursday night's North semis.

Central Catholic won its ninth straight game, 3-0 over Billerica. Strong backline play boosted the Raiders as Carolyn Eddy (24 assists and 5 aces), Maggie Hillman and Kayla Maloney (14 digs each) contributed strong efforts.

Central Catholic's volleyball team spotted rival Melrose a 2-1 lead in games before coming back for a 3-2 win in a battle of unbeaten rivals, winning the final game 15-4.

There is plenty of history in this rivalry. Central (8-0) eliminated Melrose in the Division 2 state tournament  the last tw0 years and Melrose (8-1) eliminated the Raiders the previous three years.

LAWRENCE — Even for an early-season, non-league matchup, Central Catholic knew how to control a playoff-type atmosphere.

Rival Methuen providing a noisy majority of the 250 fans in the Central stands, but the Raiders had their hands on the volume control for most of the night. Using quick starts to take charge and effective team play to maintain control, Central corralled a 25-18, 25-12, 18-25, 25-17 victory to stay unbeaten at 4-0.