Northmen bounce back to reach D-II semifinals

NORTH SMITHFIELD – Head coach Brian Burnham admitted his No. 2 North Smithfield High squad has had a bad habit this season for being a notoriously slow starter.

To spin that a positive way, they also could be considered phenomenal finishers.

Such was the case in its Division II quarterfinal against Portsmouth on Thursday night. The Northmen played respectably, but dropped the first two games by a total of four points.

The Patriots appeared primed for a three-game sweep after jumping out to an 18-16 advantage.

Astonishingly, Burnham's bunch initiated a wild and crazy comeback. They came back to win the third and fourth games, then did it again in the fifth to claim a 3-2 marathon triumph at the Michael F. Lovett Memorial Gymnasium.

With it, NS (10-5) now will face the winner of the East Greenwich-Scituate clash in a semifinal slated for 7:30 p.m., Wednesday at East Providence High School's gym.

The Patriots, after the collapse, closed their campaign at 11-5.

“Sometimes it takes us a little while to warm up, but you could see it as time wore on; the energy started coming out,” Burnham stated after the 24-26, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-9 thriller. “You know what? I've seen this before. We've had a lot of five-set matches this year because we have problems at the start, and maybe one-third of them have been from two games down.”

Junior Morgan Kruzan paced NS with 11 kills, nine digs, four blocks and three aces, while senior captain Lauren Murphy chipped in eight spikes and six digs; junior Alyssa Murray six aces; senior setter Jackie Eddy 13 assists and two aces; and junior Emma Grant six assists and three aces.

It appeared Portsmouth, the third seed from II-South, would romp to a the first-game victory after jumping out to leads of 105 and 14-8, but the hosts slowly started to chisel their way back. In all, their were four ties and three lead changes, the penultimate when Kruzan served up three straight points to turn a 2220 deficit into a 23-22 cushion.

The Pats eventually snared it, 26-24, on a Grace Rooney kill and Morgan Shablom block.

The second quickly became more interesting than the opener, as the two combatants battled top 13 deadlocks and five leads switches. After senior Ellie Platt's three-straight service points delivered PHS the 2320 lead, freshman Serena Mirisola's spike off a block and Shablom's dink settled the game at 25-23.

NS leaped to an early 2-0 advantage in the third before Portsmouth manufactured a 7-1 run, and it later would hold an 11-6 lead. That trend would continue until Shablom's serve shot long, and Murray's ace tied it for the second time at 19-all. The Pats did regain the advantage yet a Kruzan ace and terrif- ic second serve made it 22-21, and she finished it off with three more service points.

In the fourth, NS mustered a 5-1 cushion, then watched it instantly evaporate as the visitors tied it at 5-5. It regained the lead on the foe's unforced miscue, and never trailed again. The keys to that verdict: Back-toback bumps for points by Murphy and senior libero Rebecca Majeau to make it 2013.

Just as the rest of the match had gone, the Pats fired on all cylinders early in the rubber game, when Shablom fired five straight service points, including two aces, to make it 8-3, Portsmouth.

Grant, however, regained the sideout on a Shablom serve in the net, and she racked u[p six consecutive points to turn a 8-4 deficit into an 11-8 advantage.

Murray notched the final three points via ace, a long Platt spike and a setting unforced error.