Portland — The Brunswick/Mt. Ararat girls high school volleyball team saw its season come to an end at Cheverus in straight sets, 25-19, 25-16, and 25-13.
The Dragons and Stags didn’t meet in the regular season, leaving some unknown for both teams heading into Thursday’s Class A preliminary playoff matchup.
Tenth-seeded Brunswick was resilient through the first two sets, keeping the seventh-seeded Stags within striking distance.
“We talked yesterday at practice about just coming out and giving it as much as we could and identifying who their hitters were,” said Brunswick Coach Kaili Phillips. “We haven’t played this team before, so when your coming into it kind of blind you’re not really sure where your strengths lie. You have to figure it out really fast and adapt really fast.”
It was the fourth consecutive win for Cheverus. Coach Andy Wimmer is pleased with the way his team is coming together at the end of the season.
“Coming in this year as a new coach, we were fighting a little bit of the culture change and the expectations,” said Wimmer. “From the beginning of the season we’ve been talking about playing our best ball at the end, and I think we’ve definitely been doing that.”
Brunswick and Cheverus exchanged points early in the first set. The Stags found a little separation behind the serving of Maddie Williams. Cheverus reeled off four straight points, with Williams picking up two aces to push the Stags in front, 10-4.
The Dragons responded after regaining the serve, as Naomi Martin picked up an ace of her own. Chloe Coombs played a role in the comeback with an ace and a pair of kills. With the score 19-17, the Stags took advantage of another 4-0 run to put the set out of reach. Cheverus went on to win the set, 25-19. Phillips liked the fight she saw in her young Dragons team.
“Our kids are quite young. We had a lot of juniors and a lot of sophomores,” said Phillips. “They really rose to the challenge this year instead of being intimidated by the moment.”
Brunswick fell behind 4-1 early in the second set, but quickly settled down. The Dragons battled back as Sabrina Cooper picked up a pair of kills in the middle of the set. Brunswick was able to make adjustments and slow down the Cheverus attack at the net.
“That’s what we tried to do in the first couple of games,” said Phillips. “We talked a lot about keying up on their hitters and figuring out where they are and trying to communicate what they were doing so we could be more proactive than reactive.”
Brunswick trailed 18-16 before Cheverus regained the serve and went on a run to close out the set. The Stags tallied six consecutive service points behind the serving of Madison Geiger. Geiger tallied four aces in the run for the 2-0 Cheverus lead.
In the third set, the Stags were the team that made adjustments. Cheverus reeled off 10 consecutive points with Liza Rogers serving. Brunswick had difficulty defending Emma White, who smashed three kills during the run.
The Dragons settled down, and later in the set were able to string a 3-0 run together with Kathleen Trapp picking up an ace while serving.
Cheverus held on to the lead it had built up early in the set.
With the 3-0 victory, 9-6 Cheverus moves on to play second-seeded Gorham Saturday.
“We have been perennially a slow-starting team, but we finished and did the job,” said Wimmer. “It means a lot to prove it in a test like this. We haven’t had many 3-0 wins.”
The Dragons ended the season at 4-11. The program is only in its third year as a varsity sport and posted a record of 0-14 just two years ago. Phillips and her senior players noted the progress the program has made, making their second straight appearance in the preliminary round.
“This year we played a lot better in the prelim game than we did last year,” said Phillips. “Last year we had a lot of promise and potential but this year even more so.”
“It’s been pretty interesting seeing the program grow,” said senior Calla Hladky. “We’ve definitely improved over the three years. It’s kind of like we helped build something. Even though we haven’t had the most successful season. I feel like we’ve built a strong base.”
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