The No. 1 undefeated Mascenic girls’ volleyball team weathered a tough challenge from No. 9 Moultonborough Friday night to earn their second straight trip to the NHIAA Division III semifinals.
The Panthers came into New Ipswich fresh off an upset win over No. 8 Trinity in the opening round, and coach Mike Livernois’ team was ready to put a Halloween scare into the Vikings. With a pair of tough outside hitters and an unorthodox defensive strategy that forced Mascenic to recalibrate their offensive attack, Moultonborough played right along with the Vikings and even took a set, becoming only the third team – along with No. 2 Somersworth and No. 3 Newfound – to avoid a Mascenic shutout this season.
“I give [Moultonborough] a ton of credit,” said Mascenic head coach Karen Gibson. “I thought they played great. They have a good coach. I knew that they would be well-prepared, so I wasn’t necessarily surprised, but they battled with us really well.”
Even with the second-set loss, a lot went right for the Vikings in their 3-1 win. After adjusting away from their finesse game, which the Panthers were shutting down by opting out of perimeter defense, Mascenic got the offense going.
[VIDEO: Highlights from the quarterfinal win]
Junior Delaney Traffie (10 kills, two blocks) played well at the net and sophomore Val Stenerson and freshman Ava Krook had strong service games, with five aces each. But it was the one-two punch of junior setter Kenzie Cormier and senior hitter Lyla Buxton who propelled the Vikings to victory. Cormier was everywhere, setting up Mascenic with 30 assists, and Buxton made her final game in her home gym one to remember, slamming down a career-high 21 kills.
“I was just thinking about scoring points for my team,” Buxton said after the game. “We were on a little bit of a low after the second set, and that was the only way I felt that I could pick everyone up. So taking it into my hands with Kenzie’s great sets, I felt like being able to score points would help to fill our energy.”
The energy shifted after the second set, and while Moultonborough was able to keep it close, there was little doubt the Vikings were headed to victory, and once Buxton (seven aces) stepped to the service line to close out the fourth set, it was all over.
The Panthers showed that Mascenic isn’t quite invincible, but the playoff adversity is just what the doctor ordered for the Vikings; while Gibson admitted she’d rather see her team roll over their quarterfinal opponent, watching the girls step up under pressure only instilled more confidence.
“It doesn’t give me any doubt,” Gibson said. “If anything, there’s a few players that I felt like really did rise up when we needed them to – Delaney putting that ball away deep in the fourth set and Lyla’s scoring from the service line under pressure. There’s a few things that we don’t get to see that unless we’re in a close game, so those are important for us to do now.”
Now, Mascenic (17-0) is back in the semifinals for the second straight year (third in the past four) and a date with No. 4 Inter-Lakes (14-4) Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pinkerton Academy. The Vikings have parlayed each of their past two Final Four berths into title game appearances, and they look like a finals team again this year. Senior captain Buxton said the Vikings have a little work to do to get there, but the path is in sight.
“Just polishing up, cleaning up all of our little things this week from this game,” Buxton said, “and just coming together as a team and bringing our chemistry even tighter than it’s been.”