By AMANDA CATANIA
FOUR SENIORS on the volleyball team were honored before the Hornets beat Triton last week to make the state tournament. From left: Montana Robertson, Olivia Krol, Amanda Catania and Allison D’Orlando. (John Friberg Photo)
NORTH READING — This week the North Reading Spikers won against Malden, Triton and Marblehead to secure their place in the state tournament.
The Spikers won against Malden 3–0. Two players junior Jessica Lezon and junior Leah Diamantides stepped up to help push the team to victory. Lezon was the main hitter getting 10 uccessful attacks out of 13 throughout the three matches. She also was a strong blocker, constantly preventing the other team from scoring. Diamantides played strong as well, getting two great attacks out of four. Serving, Diamantides got three aces out of a total of 12 serves. She also played strong in the back row, digging balls to prevent the other team from scoring and allowing North Reading to win, 3–0.
The game against Triton was the team’s Senior Night, honoring the four seniors: Allie D’Orlando, Amanda Catania, Montana Robertson and Olivia Krol. The team fought hard to win this match and did so, 3–0. The two seniors who stood out the most were Robertson and D’Orlando. Robertson was a hard server, getting one ace out of 14 serves. She continued to play hard elsewhere too, getting an extremely good kill, and dug many balls. D’Orlando had six well made attacks out of seven throughout the matches along with a single successful block. She also had one ace out of ten serves. This was a win to honor the seniors, but it was also the win that took the team to the state tournament.
Marblehead was the Spikers’ third win of the week, winning 3–0. This was a hard fought game, with the first match going 31–29 and points going back and forth between the two teams. The two remaining seniors Catania and Krol played hard to win this match and succeeded. Catania was the defense of the team, digging several hard attacked balls; she had four strong attacks of her own. Catania also had three good aces out of 13 strong serves. Krol had a different role, as a setter she set the ball up for the majority of the team’s attacks and made several great saves when the ball went wild. She served as well, getting one ace out of 11 serves. The team fought hard and managed to defeat Marblehead during their senior night.
