St. John's Prep volleyball cruises past Braintree in tourney opener

Nick Giannino, The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.
·3 min read

Jun. 4—DANVERS — The St. John's Prep volleyball team dropped just one match during the regular season this spring en route to the No. 3 seed in Division 1 state competition.

In Friday evening's tournament opener against visiting Braintree, the Eagles proved just how much they deserved that high ranking.

Thanks to a tremendous net game and very few unforced errors, St. John's rolled to a dominant 3-0 sweep on Pat Connaughton Court. Head coach Kara Brown's talented squad now advances to the Round of 16 for a matchup with No. 14 Brockton.

"We've been off for like a week-and-a-half so we've had a lot of practice time and I think the kids were ready to play and be in games again," said Brown. "They've been working hard to get ready and we're just glad to come back out here and be able to play."

St. John's wasted no time in Friday's convincing performance, setting the tone with a 25-10 victory in the opening set. Braintree kept it close early, tying things at 6-6 out of the gate, but the Eagles responded with a number of well placed kills at the net to run away from the Wamps.

Callum Brown (7 kills) was terrific in that first set, registering three straight kills at one point to fire up his team.

In set No. 2, St. John's raced out to as big as a 21-3 lead before cruising to the finish line for a 25-8 decision. Again, the Eagles set ups were on point and their spikes came with force and pin point accuracy.

"We work a ton on what we're doing and we're how we're communicating," said Brown. "Big things we've been working on are how our back row and front row communicate when we're swinging offensively. Our back row does a great job communicating where to go, what's open, what's not open, and I think you're seeing that pay off with the shot placement and the ball moving around a little."

Moving into the third and decisive set with confidence, St. John's continued to keep its foot on the gas. The Eagles were able to rotate in a number of freshmen and inexperienced varsity players; and while Braintree did reel off a few points in a row to make things interesting, the hosts held on for a 25-14 clincher.

Matt Ciampa wound up leading the offensive charge with eight kills while Colby LaGrassa tied Brown with seven kills. Daniel Schorr was terrific facilitating the rock, registering a team-high 25 assists in the win, and the entire Eagles rotation served well throughout.

Next week's Sweet 16 clash with Brockton has yet to be scheduled, but the Eagles will be ready to roll regardless.

"We want to ride off of this but always want to try to be better, too," said Brown. "It's just those little things like the net calls and those unforced errors where the other team doesn't have to do anything. So we want to try to cut down on those as we move forward in the tournament."

Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.