OA Volleyball Resilient Despite Loss to Canton

While the volleyball team showed resiliency, is breathing a sigh of relief in its 3-1 victory Friday afternoon at the Nixon Gymnasium to clinch the Davenport Division.

Canton, ranked 20th in the state by MaxPreps.com, improves to 13-2 on the year (11-1 Hockomock League, 7-0 Davenport Division), while OA, still second in the Small Hock, dropped to 11-7 overall (8-5, 5-2).

“We played well at times, but I thought we made several unforced errors,” Canton Coach Pat Cawley said. “I was happy to see that we had a nice set with that match point. We had a nice pass and we were able to run our plays and we were able to set back to our opposite [hitter] Olivia Murphy who slammed it down the line. So I was happy to see her get the ball.”

After taking the first two sets by a total of 25-21 and 25-17, respectively, it looked like the Bulldogs would sweep the contest in three sets.

Down 24-19 facing game point, a trio of seniors – middle hitters Michaela Nichols and Candace Steadman (co-captain) and outside hitter Nicole Duffy-Protentis (co-captain) – took advantage of several unforced errors by Canton to help the Lady Tigers overcome the deficit en route to a 27-25 triumph in the third set.

Even with a few unforced errors in the fourth set, Canton finally used its depth to its advantage with the Murphy sisters – Olivia (17 kills, 12 digs, 9 blocks) and Julia (10 blocks) – and server Shannon Brady (5 aces) contributed to the last five points of the set – including game point – to narrowly defeat OA, 25-23.

Despite the inconsistences, the Murphy sisters caught the attention of Cawley with their strong performances.

“She [Olivia] a lefty opposite, which is what you want from your best offensive player,” Cawley said. “She and her sister, Julia, are the strongest offensive players we have.

Falling in the first two sets certainly didn’t help OA’s cause for an upset.

Even with the loss, however, OA coach Corinne McCarthy was pleased with her team’s effort coming off a tough loss in Stoughton Tuesday.

“Totally pleased, especially coming off the loss to Stoughton the other day,” she said. “They definitely fought. And that was a big thing for us was to fight hard and to try to stay in the game.

“Canton is such a great defensive team. But it’s a positive thing for us that we fought really hard.”

With three games remaining, both OA and Canton will look to use these next few games – including the Hockomock Showcase next Thursday – to improve its seedings before the state tournament brackets are announced on Nov. 2 (a week from this Wednesday.)

Both teams have their first chance to improve when they host Davenport finales (OA hosts Foxborough; Canton home vs. Stoughton) Tuesday at 4:45 p.m.

“We have the physical ability to play with anybody,” Cawley said. “Whether we have the mental and emotional ability going into the tournament that will determine how well we do.”

“It will be tough,” McCarthy said. “I’m hoping that we can get some wins and improve our tournament seeding.”