After a disappointing loss to Snowden in the Boston City League semifinal, the New Mission girls’ volleyball team needed a strong response to open the MIAA Division 5 tournament.
How about a 12-1 run to start the preliminary round?
The No. 21-seeded Titans jumped out to the early first-set lead in their preliminary round matchup against Brighton, a fellow Boston City League foe, and never looked back to win in three sets (25-10, 25-18, 25-15) on Wednesday afternoon at New Mission High.
Senior outside hitter Victoria Pessoa led with 10 kills, classmate Jazmyne Forde collected eight aces, and fellow senior Liselott Fermin amassed seven kills and five aces for the Titans (15-7).
Advertisement
“We can’t take anybody lightly,” said New Mission head coach Modesto Gomez, referring to his team’s City League playoff loss. “You never know what’s going to happen and it was a big lesson learned for all of us, including me.”
In the first set, the Titans displayed dominance from the service line with nine aces, four from Forde. The early run got them started, and though the Bengals (10-9) rattled off three straight points late, it wasn’t enough to stem the tide.
As unforced errors from the Titans made the second set interesting, Gomez relayed a simple message to his team.
“Slow the game down and make sure we get the ball to the outside.”
The Titans scored four of the final five points of the set, then returned to their early dominant ways in the third, with Pessoa picking up five of her game-high 10 kills. Freshman Marianne Morrilo also stepped up with three aces and two of her five kills in the final set.
“She bounced back,” Gomez said of Pessoa. “She had a rough game [in the City semifinal] and I’m just glad she bounced back. She’s very athletic . . . being a senior, too, I’m happy she came back and had a better performance.”
Advertisement
The Titans advance to face No. 12 Millis (9-9) in the first round on Friday.