LACONIA, NH — Trinity High’s history-making season came to end Thursday night, with a straight sets loss to Concord Christian in the Division-III semifinals, at Laconia High.
Set scores were 17-25, 17-25 and 21-25.
Third-seeded Trinity, which was making its first-ever semi-final appearance, saw its 12-match win streak come to an end and finished the season 15-3.
With the win, No. 2 Concord Christian (16-2) advances to the D-III State final against unbeaten top seed Inter-Lakes, Saturday afternoon at Pinkerton Academy.
”(Concord Christian) is probably the best team we’ve played all season. They’re probably the only team that can beat (Inter-Lakes,” said Trinity Head Coach Ashley Porter.
Trinity didn’t play poorly, the Pioneers just had difficulty keeping pace with a talented Concord Christian squad they hadn’t faced during the regular season. The Kingsmen were nearly flawless, making just six unforced errors over three sets.
”I’m just so proud of these players,” said Porter. “They worked so hard all season long to get us to the semifinals for the first time.”
Trinity was led by the play of outside hitter Sophia Romano. The 5-7 junior played a sensational all-around game and provided the Pioneers with an emotional boost when they fell behind in the second and third sets.
Romano’s service game was on fire, as Concord Christian had difficulty returning her booming jump serve. At one point in the third set, Romano reeled off four straight service winners, helping Trinity turn a 5-9 deficit into a 10-9 lead and forcing Concord Christian to call timeout.
At the net, Romano provided Trinity’s best answer to a C-C squad that enjoyed advantages in both size and experience.
Concord Christian’s Sadie Thompson, a 5-10 senior, and Lylah Shumway, a 5-5 senior with tremendous elevation, dominated the net both offensively and defensively.
Shumway’s vicious cross court kills were all but unstoppable, while Thompson was not only lethal at the net, she scored several times with leaping kills from the back row.
“That’s something we hadn’t seen this year,” said Porter.
Romano and Trinity teammates Abbie Santom and Ava Tetu had difficulty with the C-C “bigs” and L were forced to find creative ways to either go around or the Kingsmen blockers to try and score.
At times they were successful but more often, they were forced into errors, either long, wide or into the net.
But the straw that stirred the drink for Concord Christian was setter Abby Owens. The 5-5 senior was brilliant, setting up her hitters in creative and diverse ways, including blind sets over her head, that were always right on the mark.
With the second set tied, 6-6, Concord Christian went on an 14-4 run to take control.
Similarly, C-C uses a 7-2 run to snap a 10-10 tie and grab control of the third set.
