NORTH EASTON, Mass. - Just when it looked like Marshfield had some life, Oliver Ames rallied and slammed the door shut to complete a three game sweep in the D1 South First Round.
The Tigers took game one 25-22, game two 25-20 and then rallied with Marshfield a point away from a game three win to take the sweep, 26-24.
"In the timeout we said to relax with it being a home game and being up two games," Oliver Ames head coach Andy Mather said. "We didn't want to go four games certainly so I think we were able to execute and put pressure on."
It wasn't Oliver Ames' cleanest game of the three sets but the Tigers were finally able to get their hitting going and mixed in some off speed serves to stay within striking distance before rallying late. The Tigers never led the third game until the last two points, truing as much as four numerous times including a 21-17 Marshfield lead. With the Rams up after an OA serving error, seniors Emily Flaherty and Megan Tamasanis had back to back kills - both set up by sophomore Bridget McCarthy, followed by a Marshfield error and then an ace from McCarthy tied the game 21-21.
Marshfield's Lily Clancy slammed home a kill to regain the lead by Flaherty answered back to make it 22 all. An OA serve error and net infraction put Marshfield up 24-22 and it looked like the Rams would get back into the match down 2-0, but back to back kills from Samantha Hammond and Tamasanis tied the game. A Marshfield carry gave OA a 25-24 lead and then an ace from Flaherty completed the comeback.
"Our seniors are leading the way," Mather added. "The road that we took and learning from our losses and just the way that we train, we talk about being relaxed and execute. We're started to execute and we started to hit some zones."
The first game started as a see-saw battle with Marshfield starting with two aces which was answered by a 6-0 run by OA. Marshfield then responded with a 6-0 run of their own as the two teams stayed within three points of one another the whole game. The Rams held a 20-17 lead but a couple of errors followed by a block kill from Mackenzie Webster brought the Tigers back in. With the game tied at 22, Tamasanis had a kill, McCarthy served up an ace and then a Marshfield error gave OA game one 25-22.
Game two was Oliver Ames' cleanest game of the three as they were able to build an eight point lead twice in the game. They led 11-3 early on after an ace from Rachel Wright and then were able to go up 21-13 on an ace from McCarthy. The Rams were able to get the game within four points three times (22-18, 23-19, 24-20) but OA closed it out after Marshfield had a serve error.
Flaherty led the way for OA with 10 kills and four aces while Tamasanis had nine kills. Wright had a team-high 16 digs and McCarthy had 20 assists.
The Tigers will now take a trip to third-seeded Barnstable. The date and time have not been announced yet but we will update our schedule pages when they are.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.