PEABODY — Marblehead’s girls volleyball team defeated Peabody in four sets Monday evening on enemy hardwood. After losing the first set (25-27), the Magicians won the next three (25-15, 25-16, 25-21) to earn the win.
Peabody looked strong in its first set – an intense, back-and-forth one – but the Magicians looked like a team on a mission for the rest of the action.
“Our kids have been working really hard to raise our level,” said Marblehead coach Killeen Miller. “Peabody came out really strong today. We were super flat. We have had this problem for the last couple of matches and I am really proud of them for turning it around and winning the next three. We knew where we wanted to go and we did it.”
The Magicians dominated the final three sets. Mari Modryznska led the charge with nine kills, Eva Burke finished with 28 assists, and Megan Parkman had 11 digs.
“We just have to keep working. We come out and haven’t been able to handle stress well and we work really hard and intensely in practice on managing that stress and living in that stress. And you saw in the first game, that stress kind of got to us, but then our kids pulled it out. Our goal is that we can only go from here and we have to keep leveling up in those moments in big competition and playing our game confidently,” Miller said.
First-year Peabody coach Sherill Erickson admitted her players “got down on themselves once we were down a few points.”
“It’s hard for them to get back in it. In that fourth set, we came back a little bit,” Erickson said. “We are still figuring some things out. It’s still early. Overall, I thought they played well.”
Erickson’s message to her girls was simple after the tough loss: “Stay positive.”
“They have to stay up for every single point; they can’t get down on themselves,” she said. “If they miss a hit or a serve, or pass the ball out of bounds, they just have to stay up and be positive.”
Lizzy Bettencourt (7) led the way for the Tanners with a team-high in kills and MacKenzie Landry (4) in assists in their comeback effort.