The Nashua South girls volleyball team celebrates the clinching point in a 3-2 win over Nashua North at Titans Gym on Wednesday night. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The Nashua High School South girls volleyball team went for the block almost more than the kill.

And Wednesday night, the Panthers got both in a big 3-2 win over arch rival Nashua North at the newly refurbished Titans Gym. The win improves South to 3-4 and gives the school a 5-4 lead in the Battle of the Bridge.

South needed a way to contain North’s heavy hitters, and they found it right at the net.

“It was the best blocking we’ve had all season,” South coach Tom Langer said. “They’re allowed to play how they want to play. This is their team, they wanted it, they kept up with the energy and the intensity, and they came ready to go.”

The pivotal moment? It had to be early on in the fourth set. The teams split the first two sets (26-24 North, 25-21 South) before the Titans, led by Alyssa Stanton and Maddy Novak, had taken a 2-1 lead with a decisive 25-18 win in the third set. And then they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth, seemingly ready to take control before the Panthers just wen on a roll and took 16 of the next 20 points and went on to a match tying 25-19 win.

South raced out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth and deciding set, but North’s Alyssa Stanton served five straight points for a 5-4 Titan lead. Then Katrina Norton served three straight points for a 9-6 lead, and the Panthers led by junior Kathryn Garland, took six of the next eight points to cement things. And, unfortunately for North, put the still talented Titans in a 1-6 hole nearly halfway through the season.

“This game will forever be a Boston-New York game, it will be the biggest rivalry we see all year,” North coach Nicole Fitzgibbons said. “It’s such a momentum game, they have some really tough servers, they did well with what they needed to do. … We’re not going quietly, we’re ready for the rest of the season and we’re ready to take on each team as they come.”

“I think we were just think we want this so much more,” said Garland, who led the Panthers, now 3-4 with their third straight win, with 10 kills, four digs, 9 aces and 10 assists. “You just try to stay focused and stay calm, that’s the most important thing.”

“She ended those runs nicely when we needed it the most,” Langer said. “She played very well tonight.”

Malia Martel had 17 assists, 11 digs while Kayleen Malpass added eight digs, two aces and six kills. South libero Nina Mahalingam played well also.

“We were just able to side out on that and take the momentum one point at a time,” Langer said. “We play little games, games to five – first to five, first to 10, then first to 15.”

For the Titans, Kelsey Laliberte had five kills and seven blocks, while Mina Regnery had 16 digs, four aces. Stanton had three aces, nine kills, and 16 digs.

This was a special win for Langer,the former North assistant and JV coach who had worked with all the Titan players before taking the South job this year.

“This is huge,” Langer said. “I love all those (North) girls, they’re fantastic, they’re great, they have a lot of talent over there. This is surreal. This is exciting, and it’s what high school sports should be about right here.”

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