RallyNorth.net

Setter Carolyn Eddy shines in battle of height

Thursday, November, 12 By Christopher Smith
Staff writer

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.

But Central 5-foot-7 setter Carolyn Eddy, one of the smallerplayers on the court, was the most dominating athlete for either team in thelopsided match.

Eddy, a senior who played in every point of every gameyesterday, recorded 26 assists, 11 service points and six kills to lead the No.1 seeded Raiders to a 25-16, 25-15, 25-14 sweep over No. 5 Methuen at CentralCatholic High School. 

“I voted for (Eddy) for Player of the Year in Division 1 andshe absolutely deserves it,” Methuen coach Matt Twomey said. “She’s by far —asfar as I’m concerned — the best player in the league. She makes a lot of playsthat you wouldn’t expect anyone to make.”

Central advanced to play No. 2 Andover in the final at 7p.m. Saturday at Lawrence High School. Central already has beaten Andover inboth previous matches this fall.

 “A coupleplayers on our team play with their (Andover’s) best hitter Kirsten Arvidson sowe have a good relationship and we have a relationship with their coach so it’sfun to play them but when it comes time to play we get down to business,” Eddy said.

Eddy certainly got down to business early and oftenyesterday. She was all over the court, tipping points over the net, smashingkills from the back row and perfectly setting up 6-3 Katie Zenevitch (sevenkills), 6-2 Kendall Desrosiers (seven kills) and 5-10 Corrine Gosselin (ninekills).

“It’s normal for her,” Gosselin said about Eddy’sperformance. “She’s an all-around great player.  She knows what we like to hit and she tries her hardest sowe can smash it.”

Eddy has been starting since her freshman year. She has beenan all-MVC selection each year, an all-state player the past two years and wasnamed MVC Player of the Year this year, Central coach Gannon Paris said.

Central won the battle of the tall against the tall becauseEddy kept the ball away from Methuen’s three tallest players for the most part.

“Decision-making was a point of emphasis for us and for her(Eddy) to control the ball away from their 6-foot people and she can do that,”Gannon said.

“I think her reaction time is a gift,” Paris added. “Shealways seems a few steps ahead in predicting where it’s going and reacting tothe ball. Everyone has a setter ... but she can do some things some othersetters can’t do and it gives us such a huge advantage.”

Eddy said she paid closest attention to 6-0 Courtney Murachand 6-1 Rashidat Agboola.

“We always want to make sure we get to (Agboola and Murach)first and then worry about the others,” Eddy said.

Gosselin also played well. In addition to her nine kills,she had four blocks and 11 service points, including five aces. Gosselin is inher first year starting on varsity.

Central got down early in the first game but Gosselin hadfour straight aces to help her team gain the lead.

“I’m usually less consistent (with serves) but today I knewit was a big game and I just really focused on serving,” Gosselin said.

Twomey said his team just did not play good at all.

Passing, defense, we just didn’t play a good game today,”Twomey said. “We picked the worst time to play our worst game against the bestteam. They (Central) should be credit. I can’t see anyone else coming andbeating them.”