The Hollis Brookline girls volleyball players celebrate their Division I prelim round win over Nashua North onThursday night in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS – The margin for error is always slim in high school girls volleyball when two good teams meet in the postseason.

But the No. 7 Hollis Brookline High School girls volleyball team was able to have enough of a difference in a 3-0 Divison I preliminary round win over No. 10 Nashua North on Thursday night.

It may have been a sweep, but it was a match in which there were just an 11 point different in total: 25-21, 25-21, 25-23.

“We’re a great serving team,” HB coach Becky Balfour said, her team now 12-5 and set to face No. 2 Goffstown in the quarterfinals on Saturday. “We can spot serve, we can dial it in, that was our game plan with (North). That’s a good team. On any given day, anybody can beat anybody. That’s the season.”

The Cavs had 11 aces, and one of their best servers was senior Lolly Adair (three aces). “She went back there and just owned it with her serve, took (the Titans) out of system a lot,” Balfour said. “For me, that’s what I think the difference was.”

“It’s volleyball, it can be anything, right?” North coach Cassandra Desfosses said. “A couple serves in, one missed serve here. I thought they made some real good adjustments, it just didn’t go our way. That’s OK. They fought, that’s all I ask.”

Both sets were all even around the 20 mark with HB pulling away. But in the third set, HB was up 20-11, but North, led by Taylor Joyal, JoJo Desfosses, and setter Ruby Zeman rallied to not only tie it but have a 23-22 lead before three straight HB points to end it, the final one off a hit by Kate Berrigan.

Nashua North’s JoJo Desfosses (7) goes up to try to block a hit by Hollis Brookline’s Kate Berrigan during Thursday night’s Division I prelim in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Nashua North’s JoJo Desfosses (7) goes up to try to block a hit by Hollis Brookline’s Kate Berrigan during Thursday night’s Division I prelim in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“Can’t take anything or granted,” Balfour said. “It’s tournament, no one wants to go home. They (the Titans) don’t want to go home.”

“It just speaks to them as a team,” Desfosses said of the comeback. “What we value is just heart. Give everything you got, every play, make sure you’re playing like it’s game point, championship point every time.”

Berrigan had nine kills with five aces and eight digs, while Anika Carlson had 10 kills, an ace and block. In addition to her aces, Adair had five kills and two blocks while Maggie Noble had nine kills and two aces.

And now it’s on to face Goffstown, which beat the Cavs 3-0 in the third match of the season back on Sept. 13 en route to a 15-3 season that included taking undefeated top seed and four-time defending champ Bedford to five sets.

“We’ve experimented with things all season long,” Balfour said. “We’re excited about it. We just need to play our game.”