RallyNorth.net

Wed, Nov 07, 2018 05:00 PM @ Neutral Location

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Haverhill	16	25	20	23	1
Lawrence	25	12	25	25	3

Lawrence dumps Haverhill

Thursday, August, 29 By Dave Dyer

METHUEN — Lawrence coach Marino Valdez knew that Wednesday night’s Division 1 North semifinal match against Haverhill would be far from easy.

Never mind that the Lancers were unbeaten (19-0) and had steamrolled almost everyone during the regular season. There was a very simple explanation for his belief — his daughter, Lismari, was on the other side of the net.

“I was expecting this to happen, to be difficult, because there are a lot of emotions playing against her,” said Valdez. “She always plays better against us.”

This was certainly the case Wednesday as Lismari played an outstanding match to help push the Lancers before falling 3-1, losing a heartbreaker in the fourth set 25-23 despite holding a late 20-17 lead. Haverhill is one of only two teams to win a set against Lawrence this year. 

After a sub-par performance the night before in a win over Andover, Lismari led the Hillies with 13 kills, 6 aces and 18 digs.

“I definitely get more fired up playing against them,” said Lismari. “I really think we played our best of the year and had a chance tonight. But they’re tough to beat.”

In fact, Lawrence looked invincible at the start, led by standout middle hitter Abigail Heredia, zooming out to a 13-2 lead before the Hillies were able to regroup and make it more competitive, winding up losing the first set 25-16.

The Hillies (16-6) then put together what was likely their best set of the season, pulling away for a 25-12 win in Game 2, sparked by three straight aces served up by Lismari and four kills by standout sophomore Jada Burdier.

The next two sets were hotly contested with numerous lead changes before Lawrence prevailed 25-20 and 25-23. Alondra Davila had a pivotal kill in the first of those two sets as the Lancers won the final four points.

Trailing 20-17 in the fourth set, the Lancers rallied by taking eight of the next 11 points, sparked by the hard serves of sophomore Dajalee Torres, who had three of her team-high four aces in a seven-point run.

Heredia led the Lancers with 21 kills while Vielka Sanchez piled up 31 assists and had 19 service points.

Overall, however, coach Marino Valdez was far from pleased with his team’s performance.

“I think it was our worst game of the year because the passing wasn’t there and the defense wasn’t there until the end,” said Valdez. “We need to play better.”

On the other hand, Haverhill co-coach Victoria Pettis couldn’t have been more pleased with the Hillies performance. In addition to the play of Lismari and Burdier, senior captain Shayla Doherty played a fine all-around game, totaling 17 assists along with three blocks, and junior Julia DelRosso played strong at the net.

“It was an incredible effort,” said Pettis. “We had girls banged up and bruised from yesterday but they all played great.

“This was such a good turnaround season for us. We’re trying to build with our younger players and we’re looking forward to next year.”

The Lancers, meanwhile, are looking ahead to the Division 1 North title game at Tewksbury Saturday, hoping to be a bit sharper throughout the contest.

“We were a little off today so that made it tougher,” said Davila. “But we’ll be better our next game.”

Lawrence 3, Haverhill 1

Division 1 North semifinals

Kills: H — Lismari Valdez 13, Jada Burdier 8; L — Abigail Heredia 21

Blocks: H — Shayla Doherty 3; L — Yemayma Molina 2

Assists: H — Doherty 17; L — Vielka Sanchez 31

Service points (aces): H — (Valdez 6); L — Vielka Sanchez 19 (Dejalee Torres 4)

Digs: H — Valdez 18; L — Alondra Davila 5

Haverhill (16-6): 16 25 20 23 — 1

Lawrence (20-0): 25 12 25 25 — 3

Additional stories:

• Lawrence dumps Haverhill