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Central prevails in playoff atmosphere

Tuesday, September, 22 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

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.

The Rangers fell to 3-2 with the setback.

Senior quad-captain Carolyn Eddy was head coach Gannon Paris’ key cog to success, drawing the initial serving slot in each game to get the Raiders going, then becoming playmaker to spread the wealth and not give Methuen a player to focus on.

"We were able to get the first four or five points in every game we won,” Paris said, “and that was on Carolyn’s serve. Then it’s important to get the ball to her so she can spread it around. I think we’re built for that, so I preach that we want to share the ball so we can attack from all angles. It’s another thing that’s in the back of the defense’s mind.”

Central got off to a six-point lead in game one, a 13-5 edge in game two and, behind eight straight service points from Eddy, a 9-1 bulge in the decisive fourth game.

Whether by her 19 service points or her 36 assists, Eddy kept the offense flowing positively.

"We had that last year,” Eddy said of the team’s selfless passing that benefited the tall front line of Lindsay Phenix (9 kills and 3 blocks), Kendall Desrosiers (8 kills), Corrine Gosselin (7 kills) and Katie Zenevitch (5 blocks). “When we came back this year for practice, we just continued where we left off, doing everything we were doing. We liked to show it off.”

"It’s going to be super-important for us, if we can, to let our front line shine,” Paris explained.

Paris also assessed that Methuen’s Rashidat Agboola was an obstacle to victory, serving deep to the Rangers’ back line and playing points to the middle of the court, both strategies making it difficult to set up the 6-1 senior at the net. Despite a team-leading nine kills and four blocks, Agboola was effectively kept from prime real estate most of the evening.

"We made a point of that so we wouldn’t be on the other end of Rashidat’s smashes all night,” Paris said.

"We’ve had a few good games in a row passing but tonight wasn’t one of them,” Ranger head coach Matt Twomey said. “We came out and played a little nervous and we were never able to recover. You can’t spot a team seven or eight points then try to claw back, (Central’s) just too good.”

Methuen had one run in game three, with a four-point run from server Alicia Alan (team-high 14 service points) and strong net play from Agboola and middle hitter Courtney Murach leading to its lone victory.

"Tournament games are not won or lost in the fifth game of the season,” Twomey said. “We just wanted to battle hard and give (Central) something to think about when they come to Methuen later in the season.”

"I was happy with the atmosphere (last night),” Paris concluded. “Methuen brought a lot of fans and we had our student body here. Both schools have had excellent teams for a couple of years now and people are starting to pay attention to it.”