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Clutch Haverhill heads for title game

Thursday, June, 09 By Jeff Hamrick

CAMBRIDGE — The Haverhill volleyball team’s magical journey through the playoffs has one more leg to travel.
One week after claiming the 15th-year program’s first North Division championship, the Hillies now have a chance for an even loftier title.
Last night the Hillies squeezed out a state semifinal victory in five sets over South champ and perennial contender Newton North last night at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School. Haverhill (21-1) takes on Lincoln-Sudbury (20-1) in the state finals at 7 p.m. Monday at Hudson High. L-S won the 2009 state title and was runner-up in 2008.
“Our goal was the North finals (which Haverhill claimed with a 3-1 victory over Lawrence) because we’d been there before but could never cross that hurdle,” Hillies coach Bill Kaste said. “We did that last week, so now, it’s all new for us. But at this point, we’re just playing them one game at a time.”
The season’s biggest game was last night’s fifth. The Hillies, who won 16 of their first 21 matches in straight sets, were coming off two disappointing defeats to the Tigers (17-3) and trailed 8-5 in the finale.
It was the fifth time this season and second time in the postseason Haverhill was taken to five games.
“We’ve been there before,” Kaste said. “Sometimes we win them and sometimes we lose them. What I told them before coming in here was we want to go out of this gym playing as hard as we can, leaving it all on the court and not having any second thoughts. ... Win or lose go off this court proud of your effort.”
The Hillies responded by winning six of the game’s next seven points with James Murray providing two kills and Brett Pettis and Drew Caruso one each. Newton North helped out with a couple hitting errors. The Tigers answered to knot things at 11, but they made three more unforced errors before Tom Oliveira finished it off with a winning block.
“We hit our middles more, and I think Tommy and Drew really stepped up in that area,” said Pettis, who led the team with 18 kills, 21 digs and two service aces. “We also had to get better passes and we did.”
Haverhill won the first two games 27-25 and 25-20, but Newton North appeared to grab complete control with a pair of victories in game three (25-12) and four (25-21).
“They changed their blocking, and it fooled us for two sets,” said Pettis, who had his nose bloodied during warm-ups. “They adjusted to what we were doing, and we just couldn’t figure out how to adjust back. They were figuring out where we were hitting and blocking it.”
What the Hillies have figured out this year is how to close out matches in the postseason. And they’re doing it all in uncharted territory.
“I knew we were going to make the North finals,” Pettis said. “Winning it was completely different. That was a great bonus, and so is this.”