Tim DeLouchrey
Sports Editor
Girls’ Volleyball fell short to the Chelmsford Lions Monday night by a final score of 3-1. Despite winning the first match, Chelmsford’s home court advantage proved to be too much.
The first match opened up fairly two-sided. The team failed to pull away from each other, scoring back and forth until the Ghosts went on a 9-2 run, pushing the score to 19-11 in their favor. From there, Chelmsford failed to gain much momentum, eventually ceding the match to the Ghosts 25-13.
The Lions got off to a fast start in the second match, securing an early 3-0 lead. That proved insignificant just as quickly as it was accrued however, as the Ghosts stormed back to go up 8-5. A series of impressive kills from the Chelmsford hitters helped them to climb back into the match, tying it at 15. After that, WA struggled to find consistency in their passing and went on to lose the match 25-21.
Chelmsford came out inspired in the third match, jumping out to an immediate 7-2 lead. Head Coach Brandon Eang called a timeout to help even the momentum, but unfortunately, Chelmsford kept outplaying Westford, raising their lead to 8 by a score of 12-4. The Ghosts battled back hard, eventually bringing themselves to within 5 thanks to some stellar play by junior Hannah Chateauneuf. Despite the surge she brought, they failed to come back, losing the third match 25-13.
In the final match, the Ghosts were plagued by yet another slow start. The Lions jumped out to another 7-2 lead early, but Westford was not going to be beaten that easily, as they responded to Chelmsford with a 6-0 run highlighted by senior captain Marie McGourty’s hustle and scoring ability. A series of close, drawn out volleys followed, eventually leading to an 18-15 WA lead. The final volleys were defined by hustle and a desperation to stay in the game, but the Ghosts did not prevail, losing 25-21.
“It was a rough game with their fans going crazy and they’re a really good team to start with. Even though it ended in a loss, we all really played our best,” said McGourty.
Eang agreed with McGourty’s support for the team despite the loss.
“We played hard. It was competitive … We can build on this,” said Eang.
The girls will face Newton South in their next match-up at home on September 17th at WA.
