It was a night filled with celebrations, acknowledgements and activities.
Concord High volleyball honored its senior class of Katie Martel, Elli Cox, Elizabeth Blinn, Peyton Trento and Ava Harmon in the five’s final home game of their careers on Wednesday night.
Amidst the reading off their accomplishments both on and off the court, flowers and other tokens of appreciation, what typically is an emotional night felt like one big party. And that party was capped off by the Tide’s 3-0 sweep over visiting Salem to earn their ninth win of the season.
Concord controlled the first set with ease and won, 25-11, while erasing a 5-4 Blue Devils lead behind runs of 5-0 and 6-1. It was the middle set where the Tide found themselves in a closer-than-they-liked contest.
After opening the set with a 3-0 score, Concord got a little too comfortable and allowed for back-and-forth play to happen. Salem eventually geared up for a 7-0 run and held a 16-14 lead. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, that was the last lead they held as the Tide closed out the set in a 25-20 score.
“The first one they went out to just take care of business, and then the second one they get into this mindset where they just go, ‘Oh, we got this,’ and just lose their sense of urgency,” coach Jonathan Flower said. “Every time we got a point or two, they would sit back and relax.”
Flower saw that return to intensity in the final set. With the sweep on the line, Concord settled in and began to play a similar style to its first set. Call outs of the ball were precise. The defense was sharp in its decision-making when determining if a ball was in or out. The serves were clean, the bumps tactful, sets high and spikes ferocious, and it showed as the Tide closed out the match, 25-8, fueled by a 10-0 run.
“Tennis and volleyball are the only sports where if you screw up, the other team scores,” Flower said. “Like in basketball, if you miss a shot, the other team doesn’t get a point. It’s a very mental game.”
His point of relying on your opponent to mess up is a factor as a few of Concord’s scores were because of Salem mistakes, but that doesn’t discredit by any means the work that the home team did in earning the victory.
The Tide (10-7) finished their regular season homestand with an impressive 7-2 record, with their only losses to Bedford (17-0) and Windham (15-2). Concord closes out the season with a road trip to Dover (13-4) on Friday and following that will await its Division I playoff assignment.