Can you dig it? Old Rochester girls volleyball takes home another win
Molly Franco leaping to hit a ball.
Carly Mello returns a serve with a bump.
Molly Morrison, Piper Newell, and Molly Franco step up to the net to get ready for a block.
Molly Franco leaps to spike the ball. 
Kaitlyn Rodrigues bumps the ball.
Molly Morrison sets the ball as Hadley King gets ready to jump and spike.
The Old Rochester girls are heading deeper into the playoffs playing in the Elite 8 next.
Lucy Lombard returns the ball.
Molly Franco leaping to hit a ball.
Carly Mello returns a serve with a bump.
Molly Morrison, Piper Newell, and Molly Franco step up to the net to get ready for a block.
Molly Franco leaps to spike the ball.
Kaitlyn Rodrigues bumps the ball.
Molly Morrison sets the ball as Hadley King gets ready to jump and spike.
The Old Rochester girls are heading deeper into the playoffs playing in the Elite 8 next.
Lucy Lombard returns the ball.
MATTAPOISETT — Old Rochester volleyball took home another win — propelling the team one step closer to the state championship.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Old Rochester Regional High School Girls Volleyball Team took on Blackstone Valley Technical Vocational High School in the round of 16 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association state playoffs.
In the first set, the team dominated the court with a score of 25-9. Blackstone began to catch up in the second set, but ended up losing with a score of 25-20. Old Rochester took home a win in the third set with a score of 25-12.
“I thought we brought good energy and [the team] just carried that into their skill set. We have the skills, but it's just keeping that positive energy and high energy to carry us through,” said Head Coach James Oliveira.
Oliveira is proud of his team adjusting quickly on defense, but looks to improve on serves and staying consistent as the season progresses.
“When we have a team on the ropes, we need to be able to take advantage of that and not let them back in with silly hitting errors or serving errors,” he explained.
Captains Katelyn Rodigues of Fairhaven, Maya Morrison of Rochester and Carly Mello of Mattapoisett were pleased with the win, proud they stayed in the game even when it got tough.
“We did a good job of bouncing back when we were down. Like in other games, we've had trouble staying confident falling down, but we stayed confident this whole game and it was great,” said Mello.
As they continue in the tournament, the girls hope to focus on their mental game.
“All of us are at the top level in our Division 3 and so at this point it's just the mental game that we have to work on,” said Rodigues.
Going deeper into the playoffs, Oliveira wants to focus on getting back to where their team ended last year which was at the state semifinals.
“Now we're onto the next game, and then there is one more game until we can hopefully get back in the same spot,” he said.
Old Rochester will take on Lynnfield High School for a semifinal away game, but the date and time are yet to be announced as of the time of publication.
