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Olivia Boudreau and Pam Coufos each scored an overtime goal, and Bridget Kitchen made eight key saves as North Andover topped Reading 9-7.

LAWRENCE — Andover junior captain Ava Bakhtyari knew she and her teammates needed to step it up when trailing by four points to Reading early in the second game of the Division 1 North final match yesterday at Central Catholic High School.

Methuen volleyball beat Reading 3-1 today, but not without some drama. Down 22-17 in game four, Courtney Murach of Methuen served five straight aces to tie the game, and then they cruised to the 25-22 win.

LOWELL - Just like 2009, the North Andover High baseball team had the fight.

But the same state tourney magic was missing.

The shorthanded Knights saw a 7-3 lead after four disappear, dropping a Division 2 North semifinal heartbreaker to Reading, 8-7.

LOWELL - Just like 2009, the North Andover High ingbaseball team had the fight.

But last year's state tourney magic was missing.

The shorthanded Scarlet Knights saw a 7-3 lead after four innings disappear, dropping a Division 2 North semifinal heartbreaker to Reading, 8-7.

After being knocked out of the State Tournament by Reading last season, Andover got some revenge on Monday by squeaking past them 11-10. The Golden Warriors were down 8-5 at one point in the second half, but came back to win with Kate Farnham scoring the go-ahead goal. 

North Reading opened its softball season with a bang with a dramatic 4-3 win over Reading, thanks to a tremendous game by senior Jen Shields and a gutsy coaching call. Trailing 3-2 in the seventh, Shields had her third hit of the game —  an RBI triple — and then scored the winning run when veteran coach Rusty Russell had Kat Catania lay down a suicide squeeze bunt on an 0-2 count.

Andover's hockey team needed a win or a tie to qualify for the state tournament and the Warriors delivered with a 2-2 tie with Reading. Alex Patti and Dan Columbo scored for Andover, which finishes the regular season 8-9-4 and qualifies because it had an exclusion game against Malden Catholic.

ANDOVER — After missing the tournament for the first time since 1993 a year ago, Andover wasted no time showing it was back on the map last night.

Asked to move to middle hitter due to injuries, sophomore Sarah Arvidson excelled to help lead the No. 2 Golden Warriors to a 25-7, 25-17, 25-17 drubbing of No. 7 Reading in the Division 1 North quarterfinals last night at the Dunn Gym. The Golden Warriors (19-2) earned a bye in the first round.