Coming into the Thursday night finale of Northeastern Athletic Conference action, having already claimed their second straight NAC title in volleyball, the Newbury Black Knights still were at an extreme disadvantage going up against a solid Bristol Panthers team.
That said, the Newbury community tragically lost two fine educators this week, weighing heavily, and it was Senior Night for the Panthers, who graciously honored Newbury seniors with beautiful flowers as well.
It took a while to get going. However, sparked by a huge lift from senior hitter Caleigh Hamby, Newbury battled its emotions and an inspired group of Panthers to prevail, 3-1.
With set scores of 15-25, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-16, the Black Knights were in for a battle, and they got it.
Hamby has been one of the area’s premier hitters all season. But with an inspired Bristol team, few things could have been higher for them than spoiling an unbeaten league season for Newbury. It’s also no small wonder that the Black Knights were initially off their game considering the two teachers’ passing.
After Julia Eliasent a serve into the middle of the floor where no Panther could decide to make a play on it, a misplayed kill attempt gave Bristol the lead again, and they kept opening it up as the Black Knights made unforced error after error.
An ace serve from Alayna Sines mercifully ended the set.
Newbury had no success putting together runs from service until late in the second set. An Elia slam gave the Black Knights (19-3, 15-0 in NAC) a 19-16 lead, setting up a five-point run served up by Caleigh Hamby. Elia’s slam to the back line finished it off, and it looked like the Black Knights finally were regaining some focus on volleyball.
Bristol had other ideas about letting their Senior Night be spoiled. They jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third set, but Elia finally tied it at 9-9 with a bullet to the side line, and up stepped Hamby to serve. Eight points later, paced by a pair of aces and a pair of huge blocks at the net by Elia, coupled with some kills from the struggling Panthers that went out of bounds, Newbury got a lead it could hold onto.
“We didn’t play our best in the early part of this match,” Hamby said. “With so many things going on right now, especially this week, volleyball was far down on the list to focus on. We wanted to go unbeaten in the NAC, but that wasn’t our top priority.
“Then Sage came in and made a couple huge plays, and it got all of us into a much better thought process. She was just a huge inspiration tonight. We think we’re playing pretty good volleyball right now, so we’re confident heading into the tournament next week.”
Sage Niedbalson was the teammate Hamby was referring to. While working her way into the rotation for coach Michael Chaffee, the talented junior has also been dealing with the illness of her mother. Donna Connolly was one of the two educators lost this week, and from time to time during this match, tears could be seen among the Newbury crowd.
The other educator who passed, Robert Michael, also left a huge mark on the Newbury faithful in attendance, and his loss was much more of a shock. The Bristol administration was extremely gracious in announcing these losses before the varsity match got started.
Once Hamby got into her big roll in that third set, everybody got a huge lift emotionally. Hamby dominated the nets with Elia and Malarie Eggleston. Giving them opportunities was the big focus for libero Haley Hamilton, and she did not disappoint.
While Bristol had much success in the first two sets putting the ball to the floor, that ceased as the Black Knights settled into a more normal routine.
“I’m just so proud of these girls on this team,” Chaffee said. “Tonight was tough on all of us, but I can’t begin to say enough about the spark we got from Haley Hamilton on the back lines. She just turned into a monster back there, and her passing and setting just made it easier for the other girls to put the ball down. Credit Bristol, too, because they made some huge plays on us early, and we were able to come back well at the right time.
“We weren’t sharp in our serve-serve reception tonight, so defense became a huge thing for us, and Haley in back and Caleigh and Julia at the nets just seemed to get the job done for us.”
Erin Piczer also had a big night once the team got rolling.
“We were all scatter-minded tonight,” the sophomore said. “Then, when Caleigh got locked in, the rest of us finally kicked in as well and we got the job done. We did not want to see our perfect league season get spoiled on the last night, for sure.”
The stats were normal for Newbury, with Hamby and Elia having big nights spiking the ball, Hamilton doing yeoman’s work keeping it in play, Sarah Zembiak and Piczer setting the tables for the hitters, and Lucia Lubanovich and MacKenzie Grubbs being in the right spots as well. All the Black Knights recovered from the bad start and emotions of the week to perform superbly, but Niedbalson’s contributions may have been their top ignitor on possibly one of the most difficult nights of her young life.
Donna Connolly and Robert Michael will be deeply missed for a very long time. Rest in peace, and thanks for your contributions to the lives of Newbury Schools’ youth.