Medfield comes up aces again

HUDSON - The Medfield girls captured their third state volleyball championship in four years yesterday, defeating Central Catholic in three sets, 25-18, 25-18, 25-14.

Medfield never trailed by more than 2 points, dominating all three sets and locking up the Division 2 title with relative ease.

"We played our game today," said Medfield senior captain Melissa Haskell. "Everything was working for us and we were feeding off each other. I've been playing with these girls since we were sophomores, and this was one of our best today."

Haskell was the key, coming up with big plays whenever Central Catholic tried to muster momentum. She had a kill and a block right off the bat in the first set to help Medfield jump out to a 4-0 lead, and she aced back-to-back serves during a 5-0 run that put the Warriors ahead, 13-8. Central Catholic closed to 16-12, but Medfield ripped off an 8-0 run, including three consecutive kills from Haskell, to make it 24-12 and seal the first set.

The second followed a similar path, with Haskell recording three kills and a block to give Medfield an early 6-3 lead. Central Catholic pulled within 15-13, but Haskell picked up three more kills in a 4-0 spurt that widened the Warriors' lead to 19-13. Back-to-back blocks from junior Georgia Naumann closed out the win and gave Medfield a 2-0 lead heading into the third set.

Haskell had five kills in the third set, and Caitlin Barrett finished things off with a spike to give Medfield the championship.

Previously undefeated Central Catholic (22-1) was playing in the state final for the first time, and coach Gannon Paris was proud of the Raiders' accomplishment, although he didn't believe they played their best yesterday. "There are things I think we could have done better," Paris said. "Mainly, we had trouble handling their serve all night, and that forced us to dump back to them most of the time. That let Medfield be on the attack, and with [Haskell] and [Barrett], they can pound you."

Medfield (23-2) finished with eight aces, four from Morganne Gagne and Haskell adding a pair. Haskell finished with a match-high 18 kills.

"I'm so happy for everyone," said Haskell. "At the start of the year we had high expectations and we knew we could do this, and we stayed together and played as a team. All the passes were great tonight, everyone was in position, it was just perfect."