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Central earns third shot at Andover

Tuesday, November, 09 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — Now that the Central Catholic girls volleyball has taken care of the preliminary part of the Division 1 North tournament, the Raiders get to the hard stuff.

Winning for the seventh time in its past eight matches, Central ran past visiting Billerica in three straight games in last night’s quarterfinals. The victory sends the fourth-seeded Raiders into Thursday’s 7 p.m. semi at top-ranked and season-nemesis Andover. Two-time defending state runner-up Central (17-4) dropped both regular-season encounters to Andover although the Raiders were the only team to win a game against the Golden Warriors.

“We tried not to look ahead,” Central Catholic coach Gannon Paris said. “It was out there, and we want that to happen, but if you don’t get there, then it’s shame on you.

Central opened last night as if it were in a hurry for another shot at Andover.

The Warriors led from the start in the opening game, building a 17-9 lead before finishing on an 8-2 run for an easy 25-16 win.

After spotting Billerica (10-10) an early two-point advantage in the second game, the Raiders used runs of 5-1 and 6-1 to grab an 18-11 lead en route to a convincing 25-15 victory.

“We’ve had success in the tournament,” Paris said of his squad that lost in the Division 1 final game last year and the Division 2 title affair two years ago. “It’s very simple: if you don’t play well, you go home. And we want to keep playing, so maybe that’s all the motivation we need.”

It appeared as Central would finish off the Indians quickly in the third, jumping to an 8-2 advantage, but Billerica battled back to tie at 17 and even twice took one-point leads. Senior captains Kendall Desrosiers and Corrine Gosselin regained control to spark Central on a game-ending 6-2 spurt for a 25-22 victory.
Desrosiers led the Raiders with 12 kills while Gosselin added another 11.

“We’re definitely going to them,” Paris said of his group of seniors. “Even Tori (Brillaud) gets into the mix, but obviously Corrine and Kendall are a huge focus on offense. They’re four-year players and they want it too. (Those championship-game losses) made us tougher.”

With the Billerica victory secured, the Raiders now have nothing but Andover in its sights.

“We just wanted to take one game at a time,” Desrosiers said. “We obviously wanted to make it to Andover, but we had to take it one at a time ... Against Andover, we have to attack certain spots. They’re a very good team overall, but we have to attack their weaknesses. They will have the confidence going in. We have to prove to them more than they have to prove to us.”