Burrillville still perfect in D-II after sweeping Central Falls
CENTRAL FALLS — Longtime Burrillville High assistant Jennifer Carlson couldn’t have been happier when former head coach Heather Farrell returned to the fold three years ago.
Farrell had given up the job a few years before that to raise her hockey-playing sons, Brady and Mitchell.
Since the Farrell-Carlson reunion, the Broncos have steadily improved each season, and – as far as they’re concerned – that’s why their contingent has opened this Division II-A campaign with a perfect 6-0 mark.
Their latest conquest came Tuesday night, when junior outside hitter Karlee
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Cournoyer nailed eight kills and classmate/ setter Samantha Gosselin 18 assists with 16 serves to target (and three aces) to propel Burrillville to a 3-0 sweep of the pesky Warriors.
“During (Heather’s) three-year absence, we had another coach who had a different philosophy then the two of us had the previous three years,” Carlson stated. “When Heather came back, and because we had coached together previously, we brought back the status quo.
“I coach the JV team the same way she coaches the varsity; we have the same system, so these seniors have had the same coaching staff and mentality (for that period of time). That’s why we’re seeing them play so well.”
Added Farrell after the 25-11, 25-18, 2519 victory: “We were moving and talking and doing everything we wanted them to do, pretty much. This team, so far, has really jelled together. They help each other out, they bail each other out and they pick each other up. I think the biggest thing is they really want to win. We have that chemistry.”
It showed as senior Lauren Valenta contributed four spikes and junior outside hitter Alyssa Simpson seven aces for BHS.
As for the hosts, who fell to 2-4 in league play, statuesque senior middle hitter/blocker Ana DePina collected five kills and three blocks, while classmate Liliana Perez tacked on two aces; sophomore defensive specialist Yazmin Perez 12 digs and three aces, junior Jackie Morales Villagran three spikes and a trio of aces and classmate Herielis Guelen four digs and two aces.
“I felt we could’ve done so much better,” noted CF head coach Val Biascochea. “They didn’t seem to have that fire in them that they usually do, and I don’t know why. Maybe they probably thought they were going to be defeated because they knew Burrillville was unbeaten.
“In those cases, I always tell the players that the pressure is on them, not us; they’re the ones who have to go out and win because they’re expected to,” she added. “It seemed like every time they hit to our left side, they scored. Our chemistry just seemed off.”
Biascochea’s bunch actually jumped out to a 4-1 cushion in the opening set after a Guelen ace, but it didn’t last long. The Warriors did manage to keep it close, tying it for the third time at 8-8. Burrillville did edge ahead at 10-8 after sophomore Kara Cournoyer’s service blast, though junior Beatriz Martins’s ace spike pulled it to 10-9.
After that, however, the Broncos surged. Gosselin served up nine straight points, one via ace and three others on a kill-block-dink sequence by Valenta, to push the visitors ahead 20-9. Karlee Cournoyer ‘s final three serves earned the 25-11 triumph.
In the second, it looked like more of the same when Burrillville jumped out to 5-1 and 7-3 advantages, yet the Warriors fought back to force three ties, the last at 11-all. Kara Cournoyer pounded two straight aces to make it 15-11, and BHS more or less maintained that lead until Simpson smoked an ace to make it 22-17.
The Broncos eventually clinched the middle set, 25-18, on junior Sara DaVeiga’s mishit into the netting and a team double-hit infraction.
Still, CF didn’t roll over and yield. It forced a total of four lead switches and nine deadlocks, the last at 13-up, before BHS slowly pulled away. The decisive blow came on Simpson’s service.
Just two points before, the hosts trailed by a scant 15-14, yet Simpson manufactured six straight points – incredibly four on aces – to push the Broncos’ lead to 22-14. The Warriors did tighten the gap to 23-19, but DaVeiga’s serve sailed wide left, and Morales Villagran’s dink off the cord fell just out of bounds to seal it at 25-19.