ATHOL — Facing match point after dropping two straight games, the Athol boys volleyball team rallied to defeat the Belchertown Orioles, 3-2, on Monday night.
“I feel like we can only do it together as a team,” said senior Anthony Potenti. “No one person could have done that. It’s the way we work together. The energy, we built each other up and in the end it worked out for us.”
Trailing 2-1, the Red Raiders rallied to take Game 4, 25-14, and Game 5, 15-10. Athol took Game 1, 25-21, but dropped the next two games, 26-24 and 25-20, respectively.
Belchertown entered the match off a win against sixth-ranked Putnam in three games Thursday.
“Definitely feels good to be able to dig out of a hole,” said Athol coach Sean MacDonald, whose team is 3-1.
Down 11-8 in Game 4, Athol got one back when the Orioles gave up a point when a return failed to make it over the net. Colby Soltysik then took over serving duties for the Red Raiders and strung together seven straight points, including one ace, to put his team up 16-11.
The two teams traded points until Athol held a 20-14 advantage. An errant serve, three out-of-bounds hits and a kill from Jordan Carrasquillo gave the Red Raiders the 25-14 win to force Game 5.
“We started serving to the right spots, putting (Belchertown) into situations where they don’t like to be in,” said MacDonald. “Had the ball coming in into the setter that they didn’t really like. So we tried to make them uncomfortable.”
The Red Raiders then jumped out to an 8-3 lead in Game 5 after scoring five straight points. The teams traded points until Athol held a 10-6 lead. Potenti then spiked the ball to give his team an 11-6 lead and start a 4-2 run that his team within one point of the win at 14-8. After two errant hits by Athol, senior Hayden Herk spiked the ball into the back-right corner, landing just within the lines to give his team the victory.
“I just listened to my coach, told me where to go,” said Potenti about the spike. “It worked out.”
Down to eight active players, every player on the Red Raiders’ roster contributed at least one point, with Potenti contributing nine kills, Herk eight and Hudson Carlson four. Soltysik contributed 30 assists and three aces.
The team also played their second game without Justin Blake, their best hitter, who is out with a sprained ankle.
“I think we are moving in the right direction,” said MacDonald. “It’s hard right now without Justin with the sprain ankle. So we’re still trying to smooth out a lineup that doesn’t have him in it, you know, with some different options.”
After rallying for nine straight points off of Potenti’s serve in Game 3 to take a 14-12 lead, the Red Raiders gave up six straight points, allowing the Orioles to take a 19-15 lead. The Orioles outscored Athol 13-6 in the second half of Game 3 to win 25-20.
Athol held a 20-15 lead in Game 2, but had several miss-hits and errant serves, allowing Belchertown to tie the game at 22. The Orioles scored the final three points of the game to win 26-24 after the Red Raiders had game point at 24-23 with the serve.
Athol won Game 1, 25-21, despite being outscored 4-1 in the last parts of the game. The Orioles failed to get the rally over the net to give Athol the win.
The Red Raiders gave up 53 points through 31 hitting errors and 22 service errors.
“That’s hard,” said MacDonald.
The Red Raiders will face Putnam on Wednesday at 5 p.m.