Shea upsets Johnston in volleyball semis

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All season, the Johnston girls’ volleyball team seemed like it was destined to raise a trophy.

But last Thursday, the Panthers saw their destiny take a hard left turn, almost by no fault of their own.

Hosting a Division III semifinal match against No. 4 Shea, top-seeded Johnston played well – but Shea played better. The upstart Raiders took game one and then used late flurries in games three and four to shock the Panthers 3-1 and advance to the finals. Shea won 25-23, 18-25, 25-21, 25-18.

Two days later, Shea completed its unlikely run through the postseason with a 3-0 victory over Mt. Pleasant in the D-III title match.

And Johnston, which had gone 14-2 during a dominant regular season and earned a bye through the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, saw its season come to a close the first time it took the court in the postseason.

The Raiders were too good.

“Both teams ebbed and flowed,” Johnston head coach Greta Lalli said. “We got momentum, they got momentum. It was neck and neck the entire game. There is nothing at all for my girls to be upset about. I am more than impressed with their entire season. I’m very proud of them.”

Johnston and Shea played twice during the regular season, with the Panthers winning 3-1 on Sept. 20 before the Raiders won 3-1 on Oct. 19.

If that Shea victory toward the end of the regular season wasn’t enough cause for alarm for the Panthers, they found out quickly that they were in for a battle on Thursday.

The Raiders took an early 2-0 lead, but the teams battled all the way until 22-22. Alex DiRaimo had two kills, Dana Desmarais had two aces and a kill and Francesca Gaudiana added an ace to pace the Panthers during that stretch.

Yet, in what would become a common theme throughout the match, Shea made the plays when they counted at the end the game.

A Johnston service error put Shea up 23-22 before a double-hit on the Raiders tied the score. On the next point, Kendra Vieira pushed a ball to a vacant back area of the court to put the Raiders on top by a point and, following a Johnston timeout, Vieira closed the game out with a tricky serve that the Panthers couldn’t handle.

The final serve was indicative of a growing problem for Johnston, which couldn’t handle Shea’s aggressive serving. Eight times during the first game, the Panthers lost points without returning a Shea serve.

“They served very well,” Lalli said. “We were struggling with our serve-receives for sure. I don’t know why. We practice and practice. Someone has to win and someone’s got to lose.”

In game two, the Panthers bounced back. Shea jumped out to an 8-2 lead, scoring its eighth point on an emphatic Vieira kill, but Johnston whittled the lead away.

It got an ace from Desmarais and a kill from her as well, closing the gap to 14-10. At that point, DiRaimo starting serving and she didn’t step off the line until the game was tied at 15 apiece.

That seemed to give the Panthers momentum, and they surged. They won 10 of the final 13 points, including another ace and kill from Desmarais and a strong serve by Gaudiana. That tied the match score at one game apiece.

Even coming off that win, however, and holding the momentum, Johnston couldn’t seem to match Shea’s intensity – especially in big spots.

In game three, Johnston trailed 16-13 before reeling off six consecutive points. The final three came on aces by Victoria Parente, putting the Panthers up 19-16.

Shea took a timeout, and Johnston made a serving error coming out of the break. Shea’s Itati DeBarros followed that up with consecutive aces and Vieira then blasted a hit off a pair of Johnston blockers.

Just like that, Shea was back out in front 20-19. Lalli called a timeout, but it didn’t halt the momentum shift. Shea captured the next three points to make it 23-19 and finished the job four points later.

“We were ready,” Lalli said. “I don’t know if we had a lot of time off – I don’t know what it was. But it was just all of their momentum. They get loud.”

Needing to win game four to force a decisive game five, Johnston sprinted out to a 13-10 lead only to see Shea fight back to a 17-15 advantage. Johnston won the next two points on a kill from Gaudiana and a Shea hitting error, tying the score at 17.

As the game wound down, though, the Raiders finished strong one more time. A Johnston hitting error put them in front 18-17, and they got an ace from Jennifer Dasilva to make it a two-point lead. Another ace from DaSilva made it 20-17, and a serve that Johnston couldn’t pass made it 21-17. The Panthers then committed a hitting error before Vieira had a kill and DaSilva added yet another ace to make it 24-17.

“I’ve been saying this since I’ve been coaching – it’s mental,” Lalli said. “When they get loud and we start messing up, we don’t get it back.”

Shea committed a service error to bring the score to 24-17, but a kill by Vieira on the next point ended the game and the match.

Vieira had eight kills on the day, while DeBarros had 25 assists. Desmarais and DiRaimo led the way for Johnston with eight kills apiece.

“They just couldn’t pull it off in the end,” Lalli said.

Still, while there was obvious disappointment on the Johnston side, Lalli emphasize the special season her team had.

Over the last three years, playing in Division II, the Panthers had seasons of zero, five and seven wins. This year, they had the best record in all of D-III.

“It was inspirational for us to come back and be even stronger this year and for more kids to come out for the sport,” Lalli said. “They went from winning no games in Division II to being division champs. What more can a coach want?”

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