PEABODY — The No. 6 Peabody volleyball team’s season came to an end Thursday with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-18) loss to No. 11 Lowell in the first round of the Division 1 North tournament.
Lowell rode the coattails of powerful outside hitter Dai Thawnghmung, who hit winners from all over the court, to lead Lowell into the quarterfinals.
“She hit winners from the back line, she hit winners from the net, she hit winners from the middle and outside and was just so athletic and intelligent,” said Peabody coach Lisa Keene. “Their power hitters were too much tonight as we don’t have the height for a double block defense. And for some reason we struggled with our serves tonight, especially in the second set so that really hurt us. We would win a point, then turn around and make an unforced error, and they were also able to capitalize on our serve rotation.”
Keene said Peabody knew Lowell would be a tough opponent.
“Those teams from the Merrimack Valley Conference are that much stronger so records mean nothing,” Keene said. “Volleyball in the Northeastern Conference has improved greatly, but we’re not nearly at their level, so we knew Lowell was much stronger than its record and didn’t take them lightly.”
Peabody’s Tatiana Correia had an incredible defensive game (27 digs) and had just one serve error on 22 receptions.
Peabody finished the season at 14-7.
VOLLEYBALL
Tech 3, Burke 2
In the first round of the Division 3 North tournament, the No. 11 Tigers traveled to Boston and came away with a win over Burke. Tech advanced to the quarterfinal round where it’ll clash against No. 3 Mystic Valley Monday (6).
Bedford 3, Swampscott 0
The Big Blue saw their season close in the preliminary round of the Division 2 North state tournament. Set scores were 16-25, 11-25, 7-25.
Alexa Winter (three solo blocks), Cassidy Ryan (13 assists, one ace), Alexa Papazoglou (eight digs) and Maggie Conner (14 serve receptions) were Swampscott’s top contributors.
Arlington 3, Revere 0
The Patriots saw their season end with a loss in the first round of the Division 1 Central/East state tournament. Revere finishes the season at 12-7.
BOYS SOCCER
KIPP 7, Roxbury Prep 0
It was all Panthers in the quarterfinal game of the MCSAO Tournament.
Angel Hernandez had three goals and one assist, while Kevin Macario scored three goals. Aubrey Connors scored one goal and Wellington Gonzalez scored two goals.
With the win, KIPP advances to the semifinal round of the MCSAO Tournament. The Panthers will clash against Salem Academy Tuesday night (7) at Medford High.
FIELD HOCKEY
Lynnfield 4, Stoneham 0
The No 4 seeded Pioneers opened the Division 2 North tournament against No. 13 Stoneham with a rock-solid all-around effort, defeating the Spartans 4-0 at Pioneer Stadium.
The Pioneers got off to a fast start, seizing momentum from the get-go. Lily Rothwell scored the only goal Lynnfield needed just two and a half minutes in, taking a pass from Ashley Barrett and drilling it home.
With a little more than 18 minutes left in the half, Maddie Murphy doubled the lead to 2-0, finishing a feed from Barrett.
Lynnfield added a pair of second half scores, the first by Lily Rothwell (from Jen Flynn) with 23 minutes to play, and the second by Brianna Barrett (from Rothwell) with 19:10 to play.
The Pioneers (15-3-1) advanced to the quarterfinals where they’ll host No. 5 Weston (14-4-1) on Saturday.