CUMBERLAND — For just the second time in their history the Biddeford volleyball team beat Greely on its home court, sweeping the Rangers 3-0 at Greely High School on Wednesday.
“We’re pretty much on top of the world,” said Biddeford senior Katelyn Lebreux. “It’s nice to come together as a team and show everybody what we have.”
Just like they did in an early season matchup at Biddeford High School, the Tigers won the first two sets. Lebreux ended the second set with a kill that landed right in front of the Greely bench, one of many on the night for the senior captain.
“We do what we can as a team. It could have been me, it could have been anybody,” Lebreux said about being the one to end the set.
Biddeford showed some moxie in the third set, falling down 6-3 and 12-8 before the momentum started see-sawing. The Tigers rallied with four straight points to tie it 12-12, then let Greely pull away again with four straight points of its own. The Tigers then tallied six straight points, only to watch the Rangers score five straight, making it 21-18. Biddeford finished strongly however, scoring seven of the final eight points, and like in the earlier matchup, scoring the final six.
“I just saw a different team from my girls,” said head coach Ruth Shaw. “I saw such composure. Honestly, it didn’t matter if they got down. They kept playing.”
Senior captain Autumn Dube said that it wasn’t easy, especially when considering who the opponent was.
“We definitely had to work hard,” said Dube. “They’re a good team. But we came together, very nicely.”
The home crowd was raucous at times, especially when it got down to crunch time in the third set. The Tigers’ Bailey Cote said that it didn’t faze the team.
“We know how to focus. We could hear them, but we just ignored them and played our game,” said Cote, a junior captain.
As surprising as it was for the Tigers to knock off the Rangers at home earlier in the season ”“ a feat in and of itself ”“ to beat the defending state champions on their home court is a major milestone. Beating the Rangers twice in one season is special, but it seemed like a possibility, said senior captain Mariah Hebert.
“I thought about it, and I’m glad it happened,” said Hebert.
Now that the two marquee matchups against the Rangers are out of the way, the Tigers have some bigger goals to reach, said Shaw, and how she pulls them off cloud nine and back into reality is a question for which she does not have an answer.
“That’s a good question, that’s a really good question. I’ve been thinking about that for the last week and a half. Thinking ”˜OK, what if we do win here tonight?’ How am I going to keep them motivated toward playing every team just as strong, and then getting into the playoffs with that same intensity that we just had?” Shaw said. “That’s the big question. I don’t know how to answer that.”
— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323.
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