AUBURN — Edward Little’s girls volleyball team had its first home match and the first-ever varsity sports contest in the new Edward Little High School gym on Tuesday.
“We are so thankful to the administration and the local support,” Edward Little coach Scott Berube said. “It was great to see the fans in the stands supporting this volleyball team for the first time ever.”
Gray-New Gloucester spoiled the party with a three-set victory 25-9, 25-18, 25-18.
The match allowed Patriots to get playing time for their entire roster.
“I know they are brand new; it gave us a chance to play some of our younger players,” Gray-New Gloucester coach Gary Powers said. “It gave them experience.”
The Patriots got a strong service game from Mackenzie Gervais in the first set when she recorded five service points to help give Gray-New Gloucester an early 7-1 lead.
“She had quite a few, and I told her to start jump serving because she hadn’t done it before,” Powers said. “It’s no fun when the score is so lopsided, it’s not fun for them and it’s not fun for us.”
Elyssa Thacker and Cassandra Coppertino also had a big hand in the opening set. Coppertino recorded five points, while Thacker had four.
“During harder games, we definitely try to focus on simple tasks like passing, setting and hitting,” Coppertino said. “For us today, it was a little bit easier and we got to work on harder things, like some people wanted hit with their left hand. There’s not a lot of people who can do that, so we worked on that. We worked on our serves.”
Most of the Red Eddies’ points in the first set came off service errors or balls hit by Gray-New Gloucester going out of bounds. Lilly Merritt did notch a point for Edward Little.
Berube said Edward Little adjusted to Gray-New Gloucester’s serves.
“The girls did a really good job of making an adjustment on the receiving line, working together, staying in their zones and making that first pass,” he said.
The Red Eddies jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second set, with Ruby Ayer and Maija Bolduc recording the points. Ayer had three points overall in the set.
“Overall, the team did great with their serving,” Berube said.
The teams battled early in the second set, and with the set tied 4-4, Gray-New Gloucester recorded the next seven points for an 11-4 lead.
Coppertino recorded four more points in the second set. Kiara Bushman had two points for the Red Eddies.
Thacker started the third set by finishing a long rally for a 1-0 Gray-New Gloucester lead. Coppertino had two service points early to give the Patriots a 5-3 advantage. With the game tied 9-9, Errow Hinkley’s serve helped record the next 10 points for a 19-9 lead for Gray-New Gloucester.
The Red Eddies made a run, cutting the deficit to 19-14, which included two aces from Sydney Reed, but it was the closest Edward Little got.
Berube was pleased with Edward Little’s effort.
“The goals today were to have a good time and put up a good game, I think they did that,” Berube said.
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