BY JENNIFER McDOWELL
Salem, twice beaten in the regular season, is once again the Division I girls volleyball champion.
With unrelenting effort and intensity, the second-seeded Blue Devils blew through Spaulding’s top-seeded Red Raiders in the finals at Pinkerton Academy on Saturday, Nov. 3, earning 25-11, 25-7 and 25-11 set wins to take the match.
The Blue Devils were a different team from last year’s unbeaten, unchallenged state champs, said head coach Dan Young.
He said the main goal for this year’s team was to get the players to gel and work together, adding that the team reached a turning point a few weeks back after a loss to Concord on Oct. 10. After that 3-1 setback, Salem took every set in its final seven matches of 2007.
“We had to work a lot harder this year,” said senior setter Lauren Delaney, who aced four times during the match and scored 10 points. “Everyone was saying our outside hitters were no good. We showed them in the first game. We had a lot of chemistry on the court and picked each other up.”
Senior middle hitter Nicole Duarte, who spiked 10 kills in 18 attempts and dominated particularly in the third set, agreed.
“Tonight, we all clicked. We’ve just been playing every point like it’s our last,” she said.
Young said he didn’t do much coaching between sets, but offered words of encouragement to his mixed bag of senior, junior and sophomore starters.
“The talent was out there,” he said. “Our seniors did a great job of leadership.”
Senior Danielle Stoodley, the team’s libero, made 16 digs, preventing several scoring opportunities for Spaulding.
“We played our hardest. When you play your hardest, you deserve what you get,” she said.
Senior outside hitter Valerie Boutin contributed, digging on 12 occasions and scoring nine times on serves.
Junior outside hitter Rebecca Weiss followed suit, serving for 10 points and compiling five kills in 14 attempts.
Amanda Saab, the 5-foot-11 junior middle hitter, troubled the Red Raiders, collecting 11 blocks, succeeding on six of her 14 kill attempts and scoring 11 service points.