Top 10 Belmont Field Hockey Unarm Minutemen with (Another) Guden’s Hat Trick

September 26, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Seniors Molly Goldberg (left) and Julia Chase defend behind junior goalie Christine MacLeod with senior AnnMarie Habelow in the scrum during Belmont’s 3-0 shutout of Lexington.

So what did Katie Guden do after the freshman forward for the undefeated Belmont High School Field Hockey team was named the New England Player of the Week last Monday by a national field hockey website?

She just went out and scored hat tricks in consecutive games (and three this season) including one against a one-loss Lexington High School Minutemen on its home turf in Belmont’s 3-0 victory, Thursday, Sept. 22.

That’s what.

As the 14-year-old 9th grader goal total now reaches 13 and makes her one of the leading scorers in the state, Guden has become an integral piece of Head Coach Jessica Smith’s unbeaten (6-0-0) squad which is ranked 10th by the Boston Globe as it moves forward to retaining the Middlesex League Liberty Division title.

Monday brings another strong challenger as Winchester High School comes to Harris Field, the only non-state championship side to beat the Marauders last season. That defeat – Belmont gave up a three-goal lead in the final 11 minutes to lose 5-4 at Winchester – still haunts both coach and players who were there.

“This year’s motto is ‘Never Settle’ because we settled for a 4-1 lead against Winchester and lost the game. We’ll always remember that,” said senior co-captain AnnMarie Habelow.

Winchester comes into the match with a record of 5-1-1 and is on a five-game winning streak. The game starts at 6 p.m.

After a hard fought 2-0 win at Wilmington a week earlier, Belmont’s match with Lexington was the most challenging of the season as the Minutemen change tactics after falling behind 1-0 midway through the first half – via a Guden tip of a Habelow drive – by putting eight of its ten field players into the Marauders defensive zone.

“It took us a while to get used to having so many girls together in one place,” said Smith.

While the offense has been Belmont’s bread and butter this season – with 35, the Marauders are one of the most prolific teams in the state – it was Belmont’s defense that stifled the Minutemen onslaught. Led by senior co-captain Julia Chase with senior Molly Goldberg on the right and Meri Power on the left, Belmont absorbed the multiple attacks from Lexington’s forwards.

Junior goalie Christine MacLeod made three saves in the first half, but she stood out on a play that would not be recorded in the scorebook. With about eight minutes before the half, Lexington drove deep into Belmont’s end when the ball squirted to MacLeod. The second-year varsity starter trapped the ball in her feet and wouldn’t allow anyone to either squeeze the ball between her pads or dislodge it. For 10 seconds, with Goldberg and Chase positioned defensively behind her and Habelow joining the scrum for the ball, MacLeod kept possession. Finally, Habelow popped the ball out towards midfield to relieve the pressure.

Slowly, Belmont began to take control in the second half as midfielders sophomores Morgan Chase and Bridget Gardiner, along with forwards Lilly Devitt, Jordan Lattiere, and Alexa Sabatino started using long passes and dribbling to beat the Lexington press. Morgan Chase assisted on Guden’s second goal – a shot past the goalie’s far post pad – and Habelow got her second helper on the freshman’s hat trick goal.

“I like our team now. They do have to work on some things, but they are getting better each game,” said Smith. “We just need to be consistent each game and not let down because many of our games have been pretty easy. That’s why Winchester is going to be a challenge.”

Football: Belmont Drains SpyPonders, 17-14, on Final Play Field Goal

September 25, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: It’s good as Aidan Cadogan (#3) is congratulated after hitting the winning points vs. Arlington.

After the final whistle blew, a person on the sidelines said, “Belmont doesn’t win games like this.”

It does now.

A 31-yard field goal by junior kicker Aidan Cadogan splitting the uprights on the final play of the game gave the Belmont High Marauders a thrilling 17-14 victory over Arlington High in a Middlesex League football matchup before a large, boisterous crowd at Belmont’s Harris Field under the Friday night lights, Sept. 23.

“I’m just so proud of our guys. They live what we preach; ‘Big Play, Next Play’, ‘Livin’ in the Reap.’ All credit is due to them. I just call the play, and they go out and execute it,” said Belmont third year head coach Yann Kumin.

“It’s a new era,” said Ben Jones, the team’s workhorse who smashed 200 rushing yards for the game.

“Coach Q started it, my brother [Max Jones] started it, everyone started it who was before us. We couldn’t have done this without them. This is a new Belmont,” he said.

Belmont is currently 2-1 and 1-1 in the Middlesex League with a two-game winning streak.

On the final drive of the game as the Marauders’ was driving down the field in the closing three minutes, kicker Cadogan said he was thinking “just get it in field goal position and the team did and I’m just excited to hit the field goal.”

As he was preparing for the kick, Arlington called a timeout in an attempt to “freeze” the junior. “Normally I don’t really get iced, that’s just me. When they tried it, I said, ‘I’m going to hit this!'”

For the second consecutive week, the night’s star was senior back Jones who carried the ball 40 times for 242 yards and running in both of Belmont’s touchdowns.

“I was able to do this is because of the [offensive] line. They’ve given me holes, given me places to run,” Jones the Belmontonian outside the White Field House after the game.

“We just kept pounding it down their throats and they couldn’t stop us,” Jones said, who has scored seven touchdowns and gained 576 yards in the past two games.

“It’s just keeping up with the Jones’. That’s all we’re trying to do,” said Kumin.

The game did not start out as planned as Arlington’s junior running back Alijah Woods took the ball on the game’s third play 54 yards down the sideline to Belmont’s 6.

But on the next four plays, Belmont’s defense stood firm – led by Adam Deese, Dennis Crowley and Ryan Noone – halting the SpyPonders on Belmont’s two-yard line.

For most of the night, the preferred option was only given Jones the ball and let him pick up four, five or six yards a carry. Mixing up the plays, QB Cal Christofori hit receiver Dylan Ferdinand down the middle for 32 yard to the Arlington 33. But as Belmont was preparing to score, they lost a fumble at the 8. But two plays later, they recovered an Arlington miscue leading to Jones scoring with 12 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Despite having the ball for most of the second quarter, Belmont could not convert. But Arlington did in spectacular fashion. After punting with 30 seconds left in the half, Arlington’s junior Jaden Dottin took a slant pass from sophomore QB Adam Bowler and simply outran the Belmont defensive back to score with 20 seconds left in the half to tie up the game at 7.

If Arlington was hoping its fast strike would shift the momentum, it simply wasn’t coming this time in Belmont. Getting the ball to start the second half, QB Cal Christofori handed the ball off to Jones who would pick up five to seven yards with each carry, ending when Jones went to his favorite right side and popped into the end zone to give Belmont a 14-7 lead.

“Arlington’s a tough team, but I think we are a little bit tougher. We have been preaching that all season. We want to be the hardest hitting team by far and they felt it and that’s why we went took the lead,” said Jones.

But Belmont enjoyed the lead for a mere 20 seconds when senior John Nascimento ran the kickoff – which was pushed back due to a knocking the kickoff out-of-bounds – down the right sideline 70 yards for the equalizing TD.

The remainder of the game until the final drive was each defense took charge. Belmont’s Tyler Reynolds knocked away a 40 yard pass from Bowler to Dottin that would have given Arlington the ball deep in Marauders territory with three minutes remaining.

The last drive, with only 2:17 left in the game, saw a trio of big plays: a pitch to Jones who rounded the left side for 28 yards to the Arlington 37, a quarterback sneak by Christofori on fourth down to the SpyPonder’s 23 with 23 seconds left and dump pass from a scrambling Christofori to junior fullback Adam Deese who hugged the slideline going out on the 8 with only five ticks on the scoreboard.

“Adam just popped out of his protection and gave [Christofori] an outlet and that abled us to get down inside the 10 [yard line]. We got the best kicker in the Middlesex [League], and he proved that for us tonight,” said Kumin

After Cadogan hit the ball through the uprights – the kick would have been good from 40 plus yards – all that needed to be confirmed with the end of the game which came after half a minute of discussion from the refs. The whistle blew and the celebration commenced.

“Ask me when it becomes real. It’s not real!” said an ecstatic Kumin, who high-stepped across the field after the traditional handshake a-la Michael Flatl ey.

Football: Jones Records Record Breaking Run in Home Opening Win [VIDEO]

September 19, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: An exhausted Ben Jones at the end of a record-breaking effort vs. Medford.

Under the Friday Night Lights of Harris Field, Belmont High’s Senior Running Back Ben Jones scorched Medford as the running back ran for five touchdowns – four for more than 50 yards – as he piled up 334 yards in the Marauders’ biggest home opener victory in recent memory, 34-6, over the Mustangs Sept. 16 before a large crowd of residents and students.

Ben’s performance tops older brother Max’s game against Salem in 2014 in which the Belmont back ran for 261 yards and five TDs.

“Ben had a great day off tackle,” said Belmont’s third-year Head Coach Yann Kumin. “He got to the holes and off he goes.”

Jones’ 334 yards is an unofficial Marauders’ rushing record, breaking Makhi Johnson’s 280 yards set against Somerville last year.

“To be honest, it wasn’t that hard to do because I wasn’t touched on most of those runs,” said Jones, crediting his offense line for creating “huge holes” in the Mustang defense.

“All I needed to do was go straight. I was a track runner,” said Jones.

After a disappointing 21-6 loss against Stoneham last week, this past Friday was the chance for the Marauders to prove it was capable of moving the ball against a Medford team coming off an emotional win over rival Revere, 30-28. It didn’t take long after the National Anthem for the Marauders to dominate on both sides of the ball.

The Marauders bottled up Medford’s senior QB Ben Antoine who ran for 248-yards and three touchdowns against Revere, forcing the Mustangs to punt after running five plays.

On its second offensive play, Belmont QB Cal Christofori (4-7, 54 yards) handed off to Jones who made a quick move through a gap on the left side of the line and ran 59 yards for the first of five trips into the end zone at the 6:12 mark.

After a Mustang three and out – facilitated by junior OLB Adam Deese forcing a seven-yard loss on first down – Belmont took over at their 46. The next time the ball was downed was again in the end zone after Jones took the ball 54 yards to the house at 2:14 in the first quarter, giving Belmont a 14-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Medford found themselves with a fourth down and 16 for the first down on Belmont’s 29. But Antoine showed poise facing the Belmont rushers to toss a TD to sophomore WR Nathan Brand to cut the lead to 14-6.

“If that’s how they’re going to beat us, it’s going to be a good night for us,” Head Coach “Q,” told his team.

The touchdown would be the last time Medford threatened as Belmont’s line and linebackers – led by Ryan Noone, Dennis Crowley, and Dylan Ferdinand

Just before the half, Christofori marched the team down the field with a minute remaining on the clock. With 26 remaining, Jones took the rock and scampered 23 yards for his third TD on of the half, giving Belmont a 21-6 lead.

In the third quarter, Jones struck again, going 56 yards for his fourth of the night. The senior who is a state track finalist in the 200 meters sprint, took off for 83 yards in the fourth, stumbling over the goal line with cramps as she equaled his brother’s five TDs in a game.

“That was the best offensive and defensive schemes” the team had for a game in his three years at the helm, said Kumin, praising his coaching staff in preparing the varsity for the game.

“We are going to enjoy this for one night, then watch film and prepare for Arlington,” said Kumin.

Sports: After Two Games, Field Hockey Has That Scoring Touch

September 14, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Morgan Chase scoring vs. Stoneham.

One hope of Belmont High School Field Hockey Head Coach Jessica Smith’s for the 2016 campaign was the team could be as proficient in scoring as last year’s squad which totaled 91 goals.

After the first two games of the season, Smith can probably check off that box.

Against Melrose and Stoneham, this year’s team has scored a total of 17 goals while giving up just one. And in almost any sport, that’s a darn good ratio.

To be fair, the Marauders’ initial competition comes from the smaller school division of the Middlesex League and haven’t had successful programs for some years (although Stoneham did draw 1-1 in the season opener with Winchester – a team which defeated Belmont last year and placed second to the Marauders for the division championship) so the numbers may appear gaudy this early in the season.

But it’s not just how many goals Belmont is scoring or how they are scoring them. In the season opener against Melrose, the Marauders as a team were showing end-of-the-season like form in their passing, dribbling and ball placement skills as they topped the Red Raiders 8-0.

In the game, the playmaking and scoring were not just coming from the two senior all-stars on the team, AnnMarie Habelow, and Julia Chase. In fact, Habelow, a Boston Globe All-Scholastic who will compete for a spot on the US National Under-19 team in November, is not atop the team’s scoring table. That honor currently goes to a freshman, forward Katie Guden, who has tallied five goals to Habelow’s three.

The scoring prowess is a result of some precise ball movement from around the field. At times, Habelow will drive “long balls” – where the player sends the ball nearly the length of the field (about 80 meters) – to a teammate who is racing onto it. But Belmont is as adept moving the ball via passes and dribbling, using their speed on the wings – via sophomore Morgan Chase and Bridget Gardiner – to open room near the goal mouth for attacking players. Also showing great prowess on the ball have been Jordan Letticer and youngster Mia Kalend who has shown great use of her endurance and athleticism in the midfield.

Against Stoneham, Belmont scored from in-close where Guden and junior Alexa Sabatino are deadly accurate and from the 19-yard limit (goals can only be scored from within the attacking semi-circle) which has become Habelow’s bread and butter with the field hockey equivalent of the ice hockey slap shot. Belmont scored eight times in the first half to walk away with a 9-1 win.

While a good defense is a great offense, Belmont has a great deal of experience on the backline starting with Chase who is committed to UNH next year and Molly Goldberg starting in front of the second-year goalie, Chrissy McLeod.

Sports: Down Early, Girls’ Soccer Stun Wilmington as Allard’s Hat Trick Secures

September 14, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: It’s all tied up!

After conceding three goals in the first 15 minutes of its game against the three-time Middlesex League champions Wilmington High School, it felt like that it would be an early night for the Belmont High Girls’ Soccer.

“I told them to keep their heads up and just play their game,” said Belmont’s long-time head coach Paul Graham, Tuesday night, Sept. 13, against a team had had not lost a league match since 2013.

But even Graham was unprepared for what happened in the next 65 minutes.

Relying on one of the hottest players in the state and taking the game to the Wildcats, a relatively young Belmont squad erased the three-goal deficit to stun Wilmington, 3-3, in a tie hardly anyone saw coming.

“Stealing a point was huge and to do it coming back against that club, a ranked team when we were down three to nothing. This was a total team ‘win,'” said Graham, whose team lost to Wilmington, 5-1, last year.

The catalyst for Belmont was junior all-star Carey Allard who bagged the hat-trick to bring the Marauders (2-0-1) back from what appeared to be a certain home defeat.

“As soon as it happened, we all got a little down. But after halftime, we got our heads back in it and fought until we tied it,” said Allard who scored her first late in the first period with a running volley from a pass by junior midfielder Emma Sass and the second at the penalty spot.

The final goal, with just under 10 minutes remaining was, simply put, a mistake. Coming down the right side, Allard cut along the touch line and sent the ball over the Wildcat’s goalkeeper and into the far corner at the acutest of angles.

“That was supposed to be a cross, but I hit it all wrong. I guess I got lucky,” said Allard who has tallied eight goals in three games.

For Graham, the tie was, in a sense, a team victory as players outhustled the competition from winning 50/50 balls to muscling Wilmington away from making a dangerous move towards the Marauders’ goal.

Placing juniors Emma Sass, Eliza Filler and sophomore Olivia Cella in the midfield in the later part of first and in the second halves proved problematic for the Wildcat playmakers “because while they’re not the biggest girls, they are fast and nipped at [Wilmington’s] heels if they are beaten.”

Graham said the game will be a bookmark for future games against the steel of the Middlesex League in coming days.

“We had them on their back heel by the end of the game,”said Graham, praising sophomore forward Ella Gagnon for attacking Wilmington’s defense which gave Allard the little bit of space she needed to work her magic.

Sports: Volleyball Rebounds for First Win, Girls Swimming Tested by Melrose

September 12, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Jane Mahon serving.

Volleyball stones Stoneham, 3-0, to even season

After meeting one of the toughest opponents it will see this season in its opener, Belmont High Volleyball rebounded to grab its first victory of the young season, downing Stoneham 3-0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-21) in a warm Wenner Field House on Friday, Sept. 9.

With a strong defense digging numerous balls from the floor, Belmont was the beneficiary of some fortunate bounces including one of the more bizarre incidents you’ll see on the court. During the third set, after clawing back from nearly a ten point deficit to take a slim 20-19 point lead, a Stoneham player put the ball into her net, causing the Belmont players to turn to celebrate the point.

But the ball was still in play and a Stoneham player hit the ball over to the Marauders’ side where it hit sophomore Jane Mahon on her head. Realizing the situation, Belmont’s Katrena Daldalian stuck the ball over to Stoneham which lost the point due to a returning error.

Head Coach Jen Couture named Daldalian the player of the match “for helping to shift the momentum” in the critical third, as she started serving at 12-18 and brought us to 21-19.

“It was very clutch,” said Couture, who added that Mahon also had a great match hitting 17 for 18 with 9 kills.

Belmont is 1-1 and will take on Wilmington away on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Depth propels swimming to victory over a strong Melrose squad

Anyone who thought the first meet of the year for Belmont’s swimmers against Melrose High School would be a cakewalk has not been following the local swimming scene lately. The Red Raiders are a young but strong team that finished last year’s Div. 2 state championship in 7th place. And the 2016 team brought back all its top rate competitors including junior freestyle sprinter Samantha D’Alessan and a slew of good relays.

The Red Raiders are a young but strong team that finished last year’s Div. 2 state championship in 7th place. And the 2016 team brought back all its top rate competitors including junior freestyle sprinting champ Samantha D’Alessandro and a slew of good relays.

“I knew we had to be on our toes to get by this team. They have wonderful girls and great coaches,” said Belmont’s long time head coach Ev Crosscup.

With the help of a sophomore stalwart and surprising depth in several events, Belmont was able to secure a hard-won victory, 90-75, with scoring stopped with two events remaining.

Taking over from recently graduated swimming star Jessie Blake-West – she is competing for Brown this year – is 10th grader Nicole Kalavantis, who came off three state championship swims last year. And the sophomore picked up where she left off, powering through some very impressive times this early in the season, winning the 200 and 500 yard free with ease (2:05.57 and 5:37.07) and anchored the 200 medley and the 4×400 free relays to victories.

The Marauders’ deep bench was seen in events such as the 200 individual medley as Dervla Moore-Frederick, Angela Li and Molly Thomas finished 2, 3 and 4 to secure 9 of 16 points while Sophie Butte, Stephanie Zhang and Lulu November performed the same feat in the 100 free with Butte chomping at D’Alessandro’s heels coming home in 58.68.

Butte came back to finish second in the 100 backstroke as Molly Thomas secured first in 1:05.66 with Moore-Frederick winning the 100 breaststroke.

“It was a nice victory because it shows that I have some talent to work with this season,” said Crosscup.

Sports: Boys’ Soccer Resilient In Fight To Tie Stoneham ‘At The Death’

September 12, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont’s Simon Sivers’ shot alludes Stoneham’s goalie Caio Barbosa for the tying goal.

The term “at the death” is the very British way of meaning the dying moment of an event, popularly used in sports matches.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, Belmont High Boys’ Soccer was attempting to breath a little life into the final minute of its match with Stoneham High at Harris Field. Despite having the best chances throughout the game – including a penalty kick (missed) and hitting the wood work in both halves – Belmont was preparing to leave the field with a loss, down 2-1 with less than a minute remaining.

As Belmont continued pressing, a last glimmer of light came to the Marauders in the form of a penalty at the left edge of the box. The resulting free kick “at the death” was directed to the feet of senior midfielder Simon Sivers who roped the ball beyond the hands of Stoneham keeper Caio Barbosa high into the back of the net to insure a 2-2 tie, keeping Belmont undefeated after two games of the season.

For Belmont Head Coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane, “the biggest positive from this game is the resilientcy the team showed” especially after the Spartans’ Giovanni DeVargas scored his second goal midway through the final half on Stoneham’s only scoring chance in the second 40 minutes.

“They let themselves be disappointed for like 30 seconds before becoming composed again … and continued to work to salvage something which is something we can build off for the rest of the season,” he said.

After going down 1-0 midway in the first, Belmont used some pretty combination passing to control the game and tempo. The Marauders finally broke through 17 minutes into the second half when senior captain Daron Hamparian pounced on the rebound of a shot from fellow senior Luckson Danbo to power a shot by Barbosa from six meters out.

Marauders take opener vs. Melrose

The weekend tie came after Belmont won its opener, 1-0, over Melrose on Thursday, Sept. 8, at Harris Field on what is an early candidate for goal of the year. With less than two minutes left to play in the first half, sophomore midfield John Campbell took a high pass in traffic about 15 meters out of goal, turned in one movement and struck ball in the air where it cleared the Red Raider’s goalkeeper before curling in.

“I got the ball and wanted to go for the corner but it went straight at the [keeper]. But it was high enough to clear him before dipping into [the net],” said Campbell scoring his first varsity goal in his first varsity game.

Bisceglia-Kane said he was proud of the team as they worked on holding each other accountable throughout the game , pointing to Danbo as being the best player on the field.

“He’s really composed. There’s no sense of being anxious on the ball. He’s alway composed, calm and collected and makes the right decision,” said Bisceglia-Kane.

Sports: Allard Lead Belmont Girls’ To Late Win At Stoneham, Now 2-0

September 11, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: A happy Belmont team swarm Carey Allard after the junior scored the winning goal at Stoneham.

Give Carey Allard an inch … well, you know the rest.

Belmont wins.

The junior all-star forward used a moment of indecision by Stoneham defender Mari Avola who had dogged her successfully for 74 minutes, charging by her using track sprinter speed to break alone against Stoneham’s keeper. The Division 1 commit quickly slipped the ball into the left side of the netting to give Belmont a 1-0 win on a warm, humid Saturday afternoon, Sept. 10, keeping the Marauders’ perfect after its first two games.

On Thursday, Sept. 8, Belmont opened the season with a 5-1 win at Melrose with Allard scoring Belmont’s first four goals of the season.

For Belmont Head Coach Paul Graham, the team’s performance at Stoneham was “just good enough for us to win.”

“Something always happens on this field,” said Graham of the grass surface that is noticeably narrow.

“I’ve been 22-0, and I can only win 1-0 here. I don’t know what it is,” he said.

“Thank goodness we have Allard. She’s a difference maker,” he said.

But for much of the match, Allard could not shake her shadow Avola who played Belmont’s main scoring threat tight and physical including a yellow card Avola picked up with 10 minutes remaining in the game. While Belmont did have its chances – junior Emily Duffy breakaway in the second half was parried away as well as a post being hit – the team did not dominate the game as it did against Melrose.

Stoneham’s pressure put Belmont’s midfield and defense on the back heel for portions of the match especially in the second half, as Stoneham hit the crossbar and narrowly missed the post on a header midway through the half. The one shot the Spartans had within the box was stopped by senior goalkeeper Georgia Parsons who recorded her first clean sheet this season.

With both sides having chances in the final minutes, it was likely the first goal by either team would be the winner. After a threat by Stoneham was kicked downfield by sophomore forward Ella Gagnon, it was time for Allard to make her mark on the game.

“Ella played a great ball, and I saw that [Avola] was getting in front of me, so I just went with her and then cut her off,” said Allard, who lost her voice after the game.

Allard said her scoring prowess is due to her “teammates playing me great passes. I’m just the one who finishes them for goals.”

Allard will need to be at her best as Belmont meet ranked Wilmington at home on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.

Sports: Belmont Volleyball ‘Stands Tall’ in Loss to Powerhouse Melrose

September 9, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Mindee Lai (left) and Jane Mahon for Belmont at the net.

It was going to be a tough opening match of the 2016 season for Belmont’s volleyball on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

But every season for the past five years has started with the Marauders taking on Div. 2 powerhouse Melrose, this year at home at the Wenner Field House.

And while the scoreboard showed a 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-12) victory for the visiting Red Raiders, the performance by Belmont (0-1) – a mix of young first-time varsity performers and veterans – kept Head Coach Jen Couture “jumping up and down off the bench.”

“We were serving great, very aggresively and consistantly throughout the game while on defense we were digging balls off the court for the entire match,” said Couture.

“We fought for every point and every point was very exciting even though we didn’t win them all,” she said, pointing to the play of senior captain Su Jing Chen who was “playing out of her mind” from the back row.

Sophomore Jane Mahon led the team with four kills followed by senior Kendra Valerius with three as Belmont ended the match with 13 of 30 set.

Couture praised “player of the match” freshman Sophia Estok for her work setting plays and on defense.

“I’m pretty excited about the season after this performance,” she said.

Preview: Belmont High Volleyball ‘Work Hard No Excuses’ [Video]

September 7, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Su Jing Chen (left) and Fiona Martin, co-captains of Belmont’s Girls’ Volleyball team.

Season after season, Belmont High School participates in a wide range of MIAA and club sports, which a majority of students participate. But for the most part, the squads are represented by their records or on the scoreboard.

The Belmontonian will give an opportunity for each team to present their hopes for the fall season ahead. Some are powerhouses; others will be rebuilding. But they all have expectations to build on.

The first team profiled is Girls’ Volleyball which is attempting to rebound from just missing the postseason by a single game and return to the 2014 15-5 team ranked 7th in the Div. 2 North Sectionals.

The Belmontonian

Belmont's Independent Media Outlet Covering the 'Town of Homes'