Panthers cruise past Spartans, remain unbeaten

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Another match, another convincing victory for the Johnston volleyball team.

On Thursday, the Panthers made quick work of a strong Scituate squad, winning 3-0 for their 11th victory of the year and their 10th by way of a sweep.

Johnston cruised 25-11, 25-20, 25-22 in a tough, road environment against a playoff-bound Spartans team that is 7-4 on the season. The Panthers are now 11-0, and have defeated their opponents 33-1 in total games this season.

They’ve been good the past few years. This year, they’ve been as dominant as they’ve ever been. Johnston is one of just three unbeaten teams in the state – along with Division II’s East Greenwich and D-I’s Exeter-West Greenwich – and it leads D-III by three full games. Every team in the division has at least three losses aside from Johnston.

The Panthers’ only game loss this season was much earlier in the year, to Shea.

“They have the physical part,” said head coach Greta Lalli. “They have it. But when they get down, to me it’s extremely important that they boost each other up and they get the job done. We’ve done it every single game.”

The scary thing for opponents is that Johnston is peaking at the perfect time of the year. There are only five matches left in the regular season, and against Scituate, the Panthers played one of their most complete matches of the season.

The first game, in particular, might have been the best game all year.

Johnston never trailed, and in a loud, raucous gym, it never flinched either. It led by as many as 16 points, eventually winning by 14.

“They were in a good mood before the game and they just brought it right out,” Lalli said. “It was all their energy. Their serves were amazing.”

The Panthers never trailed all night, in fact, and they were dominant again in game two, even if the score was slightly closer.

They went up 11-2 to right out of the gate, with Dana Desmarais and Francesca Gaudiana both going on extended service runs. Kristina DiMascio had three hits during the early going, and Johnston eventually took a 17-6 lead.

Scituate battled back some, with the crowd getting louder on every point. It got all the way to 19-17, thanks to solid serving from Sam Torres and the hitting of Katelyn Card.

But the Panthers regrouped in time. Angela Gallucci bumped a ball to the back line that Scituate tipped out of play to make it 20-17, and then Gallucci served a pair of aces and a third ball that couldn’t be returned.

Five points later, a hitting error on Scituate ended that game.

“The second game is always our toughest game,” Lalli said. “We started off strong and then they kind of lost confidence a little bit. But they brought it back up.”

Game three was tighter still, but again the Spartans never led. Their hard hitting made things difficult, but Johnston fought through it.

On big points – at 10-8, 11-9 and later at 20-18 – the Panthers always came up with the win. Scituate was within three at 23-20, at two at 24-22, but a service error ended the game.

It was a lesson in defense for Johnston, as it had to guard against some of the division’s top offensive threats.

“We pretty much hold the same defense all the time,” Lalli said. “It depends on the rotation, but we have a formation that works enough. No matter what kind of formation we have, depending on who’s hitting, the girls will adjust.”

Desmarais and Gaudiana led the way statistically for the Panthers, as they both had six aces and six kills. Gallucci had four aces and eight kills, while DiMascio had one ace and one kill. Alexa Tavares had two aces as well.

“It’s hard to pick them apart,” Lalli said. “They make mistakes, but they want to get better and they don’t ever do them again.”

Starting Wednesday, Johnston has five matches left. It was scheduled to take on 7-4 Juanita Sanchez on Wednesday, with results unavailable at press time.

On Friday, it will be at 3-8 Hope at 4 p.m. The regular season concludes on Monday, Oct. 27.

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