Blue Devils rebound from sweep, storm past Bulldogs

LEOMINSTER » What a difference a couple of days has made for the Leominster girls volleyball team.

After being defeated in three straight sets on Monday afternoon against Monty Tech, the Blue Devils looked like a completely different team on

Wednesday when the Bulldogs came to Leominster for a rematch.

The host Blue Devils got off to a strong start in all three sets and came away with a 3-0 win by scores of 25-17, 25-15 and 25-13.

Leominster head coach John Antonetti was pleased with what he saw out of his team.

“I’m happy with what I saw today,” said Antonetti. “With the whole COVID situation, we’ve had shorter practices and there just hasn’t been enough time. I told everyone we weren’t ready on Monday. We didn’t know our

rotations yet and at practice on today we worked on it and you could see the progress today.”

On the other sideline, Monty Tech first-year head coach Sandy Duong lamented her team’s slow start.

“It’s tough to climb out when you dig yourselves a hole like we did today,” said Duong. “(Leominster) didn’t look like the same team that came to play us on Monday. There are things we

need to work on, like our serving and playing together as a team. We just didn’t click today. We’ll get back to work at practice and we’ll bounce back.”

In the first set, Leominster used a red-hot start to jump out to a quick 13-2 lead and used strong play around the net from Josette Sanchez and some quality service from Angelina Broomfield to expanded their cushion to 18- 4.

The Bulldogs chipped away with a 7-1 run, highlighted by an ace from Skyler Pulver and a kill from Mackenzie Pupecki, to pull within 19-11, but Leominster put

an end to the Bulldogs’ rally with four straight points to make it 23-11 as the Blue Devils were put the first set to bed.

In the second, the Blue Devils scored 10 of the first 13 points and the Bulldogs once again found themselves with a tall mountain to climb.

Leominster’s Shayla Nguyen and Randee Wood showed off their skills from behind the line with solid service for the Blue Devils.

With Leominster holding a 14-5 lead, the Bulldogs once again tried to rally as Samantha Cardosi had a hand in four

straight Bulldog points with a kill and three straight aces to close the deficit to 14-9.

Once again, Leominster weathered the storm and scored three straight points to get back in control with a 17-9 lead.

Leominster put a stranglehold on the match as it locked up a 25-15 win the second set and was ready to put things away in the third set.

“I was most pleased with our spacing on the court and the communication between our players,” said Antonetti. “I also thought they did a really nice job staying focused.”

In the third set, Leominster scored the first seven points, all courtesy of the service of Nguyen and Monty Tech couldn’t close the gap any smaller than five points the rest of the set.

Leominster’s Maynashley Perez-Soto and Karina Perez provided a big spark for the Blue Devils during the final set as Leominster opened 14-7 advantage midway through the third set.

Holding a 18-12 lead, the home team was ready to put the match away as it ended things with seven of the final eight points to secure the win.