Bishop Guertin's Veronica Gomez (21), Allison Marino (11) and Sophia Leary celebrate the Cardsd 3-1 win over city rival Nashua North on Thursday night at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – In a few weeks, both the Bishop Guertin and Nashua High School North girls volleyball teams will look back on Thursday night’s battle and take a lot from it.

Perhaps the Cardinals will take just a tad more, as they rallied for a 3-1 win over the Titans to improve to 3-0 on the young season after it looked as if the match would go five sets. But up 2-1, the Cards fell behind 16-8 in the fourth set, before rallying for a thrilling 28-26 match-clinching win.

“It’s encouraging, that’s for sure,” Guertin coach Kyle Clement said. “I’m excited we got tested so early in the season and came out ahead of it.”

North took the first set 25-22, but the Cards controlled the second 25-14 and then in the third were down 19-5 before rattling off eight straight points and winning the go-ahead set 25-20.

“I told them at the end of the third set and end of the fourth set ‘You girls can control this, however you want it to go,'” Clement said. “They took control of the game. They did everything, I just put them where they needed to go.”

Guertin has six seniors, all of them start, and that was a big difference in both coaches’ minds.

“I think it came down to experience,” North coach Cassandra Desfosses said. “But I couldn’t be more proud of them. I’m all about a learn. It’s a loss, but they’re learning.

“It’s just going to make them more hungry, which is good. I’d rather have that early in the season, it will keep them refocused and we have plenty to work on.”

Including how to put a team away, because the Titans had control at a few junctures. They took a 10-3 lead in the final set and appeared to be on their way to forcing a fifth set after back-to-back aces by Amaya Gordon gave them a 16-8 lead. But Guertin rallied after a time out, and consecutive kills by Akira Coravos plus the serving of Allison Marino got the Cards close. A kill by Caitlin Harrington followed by a North bad hit gave BG a sudden 21-20 lead.

Back and forth they went, trading points – the Cards had two match points and North one before an ace by Sophia Leary gave BG a third match point and then a hit out of bounds ended it.

“That’s volleyball,” Desfosses said. “With the rally, it’s a roller coaster. It is what it is, we’ll tweak some stuff and get back after it.”

Nashua North’s Johana Desfoses goes up for an attempted block on a hit by Bishop Guertin’s Akira Coravos during Thursday night’s match at North. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Nashua North’s Johana Desfoses goes up for an attempted block on a hit by Bishop Guertin’s Akira Coravos during Thursday night’s match at North. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

North got good nights from the likes of Haley Maurhoff and the powerful hitting of Taylor Joyal, while the Cards seniors led their efforts.

“Coravos was phenomenal, she carried us in those last two sets,” Clement said, also praising the serving of Marino, the smart play of Brooke Partridge, and Veronica Gomez’ calming presence in the back row.

“Our athleticism this year is definitley carrying us rather than the height we used to have,” Clement said. “It’s a different year, different team and this year they’ve been great at adjusting and playing their game. Even though we don’t have the height, we make it work.”