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The mission continues for Cavs after quarterfinal win

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Oct 31, 2021

Hollis Brookline's Cheyenne Colbert fires a return past Concord's Elli Cox whiile HB's Emily Sartell looks on during the Cavs' 3-0 Division I quarterfinal win Saturday night in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS – The mission, if the Hollis Brookline High School girls volleyball team chooses to accept it, is to get back to the Division I finals with possibly another shot at powerful Bedford.

Judging from Saturday night’s 25-19, 25-13, 25-15 quarterfinal sweep of No. 10 Concord, they choose to accept it.

And then some.

Every kill, every point, seemed to be emphatic.

“On a mission,” Cavs coach Becky Balfour said, her second seeded team now 18-2. “We hit a little bump in the road against Nashua North (late in the season), but sometimes you learn more from your losses than your wins. We definitely took a lot away from that and you’re seeing the results of that here.”

The Cavs will now take on No. 3 Windham, who earlier in the day edged Londonderry, 3-2, in Thursday’s semis at Pinkerton Academy at 5 p.m. All top four regular season teams made it, so No. 1unbeaten Bedford will take on No. 4 Pinkerton in the other semi.

Remember, the Bulldogs swept the Cavs in last year’s finals, but right now Balfour certainly wants her team only focusing on Windham, which took HB to five sets before falling early in the season.

“We’re telling them, think in the present,” Balfour said. “Don’t think a match ahead.”

The Cavs pulled away in each set, led by junior Cheyenne Colbert’s 11 kills, two aces, and 13 digs, plus senior Lydia Daskolos’ eight kills, one block, and Annette Schlunk’s eight kills and one block.

What made the Cavs so tough last night?

“Consistency,” Tide coach Jonathan Flower said. “All season when we’ve done well we’ve been able to find a weakness on the court, and kind of capitalize on that. We weren’t able to do that tonight because they were really covering the court very well…

“They were tough.”

“We just need to play our game,” Balfour said. “If we’re playing our game, like you saw tonight, then we’re good. We just need to concentrate on that. I just liked that we kept our energy up. … The volleyball IQ on this team is really high. They’re so in sync.”

“We feel great,” Colbert said. “We’re so together, we love each other, we’re all friends, a family. Where we are right now, we’re so proud of ourselves, and we can’t wait to continue.”

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