On Tuesday Sept. 20, Community College of Rhode Island CCRI Knights defeated NECC Knights three sets to one at the Sports and Fitness Center in the Haverhill campus in Haverhill, Mass.

First set 25-16 NECC Knights lost, second set 25-13 NECC Knights lost, third set NECC Knights won 34-32 and the fourth set NECC Knights lost 25-23.

It was the home opener for the women’s volleyball team and it was also a rematch of the 2021 Region 21 finals.

They had a big crowd watching that game thanks to the men’s soccer team as soon as they finished their game against Roxbury. They went to the Sports and Fitness Center about 45 to 50 minutes from the start of the women’s volleyball game to cheer on for the NECC Knights.

NECC Women’s Volleyball head coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill said after the game “I thought that was great. I really thought that I should probably thank them. I really appreciated them coming, it did make a difference. I think it was enjoyable for the players to have a crowd and I think they did a great job cheering, constructively it helped bring some energy in the court and I think obviously during the match we got some ups and downs and I think they help us getting some up swings with the momentum.

The game officially started at 6:47 p.m.

The Knights of NECC started the game on an 8-3 run before CCRI Knights decided to call a time out.

After the time out CCRI Knights went on a 7-0 run.

NECC head coach Pelosi called two timeouts in the first set to try to motivate his players and try to win that first set. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as the Knights lost the first set 25-16.

In the second set CCRI Knights started on a 4-0 run before the Knights of NECC finally cashed in and scored a point on the second set to make it 4 to 1. Then the Knights of NECC was losing 10 to 5 when coach Pelosi decided to use his first timeout of the second set.

The Knights lost the second set two games to none.

On the third set it was a classic battle between CCRI Knights and the Knights of NECC.

The NECC Knights were s looking to avoid getting shutout for the third time in five games.

The NECC Knights played more aggressively in the third set and arguably the best set that they ever had so far in this 2022 campaign.

The Knights were up 10 to 7, 15 to 14 and the game was tied at 22.

When the game is tied at 24, which indeed happened in the third set it was 24-24 one point in the game instead of 25, to win the set you must win by two points..

It was a back and forth battle. CCRI scored. NECC scored. It was like that set was never going to end. Instead finally the NECC Knights forced a set four and won the third set 34-32.

Coach Pelosi and I talked about how intense the third set was. “Yeah that was a terrific one I tell them a lot these teams are not easy teams, especially CCRI, the coach is great …. he knows his stuff and we have

to work, we are not getting any freebies this year we got to work for every single game and I think they got in a good competitive mindset… players are not going to play at their best if they don’t really believe they can win…” he said.

Coach Pelosi also believed winning the third set put pressure on CCRI for the forth set.

The Knights of NECC were up 13 to 9 in the fourth set and were taking advantage of the mistakes of CCRI. The Knights were up 21 to 17, they just needed four more points to force set five and possibly one of the biggest upset in the season. Instead CCRI came back. It was 23-23 at one point in the game and CCRI defeated NECC 25-23 in set four and won the game three set to one.

On Tuesday Sept. 20, Roxbury Community College defeated NECC Knights 3 to 1 in the Men’s Soccer home opener at the Haverhill campus in Haverhill, Mass.

Before the game I had a chance to interview NECC Soccer head coach Eusebio Marote and he gave me an injury update on Andrew Valdes of Lawrence who got injured in the previous match against Massasoit “Unfortunately we believe  that he might be out for the rest of the season…” he said.

The Knights won the coin toss against Roxbury which means the Knights would have the ball first.

The game officially started at 3:36 pm.

In the first half the Knights were playing good defense preventing Roxbury from scoring early in the game.

The Knights almost scored on a corner kick. Johnathan Diaz of Methuen kicked the ball, the ball in mid air Matheus Moreira of Dracut  headed  as the ball went over the net and the Knights did not scored.

In the 33 minutes of the game made it 1-0 Roxbury a goal of Isandro Lopes and an assist from Kervens Charles.

The Knights missed a few opportunities during the game where they could’ve tied the game and possibly taken the lead.

One minute later one of the Roxbury players left the game due to an injury.

Roxbury made it 2-0 in the 43rd minutes of the game. It was again Lopez with an assist this time by Ronilson Semedo.

In the first half the Knights had two corner kicks, Roxbury had three. The Knights had four shots on goal and Roxbury had one. The Knights had five fouls and Roxbury had four.

In the second half the Knights goaltender was complaining a little bit of a hip injury, but he managed to stay in the game.

In the 70 minutes of the game Sam De Amorim of Methuen made it 2 to 1. That goal was a relief for the Knights because with that goal it ended the Knights 290 minutes stretch without scoring a goal.

I had a chance to talk to De Amorim after the game. “It definitely good a lot of work to be [ done] and back into it tomorrow on practice and I feel great about scoring even though I’m coming off an injury and almost giving my team a tie here. It’s a tough loss, they are really good team and we (will be) back at it the next game for sure try to win the next game,” he said.

De Amorim almost scored his second goal of the game, which would have tied the game at 2, but he missed the game tying shot by inches as the ball curved.

Lopes scored a hat trick in the 81st minute as he was responsible for all three goals for Roxbury thanks to an assist of Jorgenson Delice.

In the second half the Knights had one corner kicks while Roxbury had two. The Knights and Roxbury both  had four shots on goal. The Knights had three fouls and Roxbury  had two fouls  meanwhile in the second half. The Knight’s had one yellow card and Roxbury had two.

There were fouls during the game and yellow card that the referee missed during the game.

“Yeah it’s a little frustrating, obviously when he is not making the right call in our opinion but at the end of the day everybody makes mistake… no matter what level it is. Even at the professional level obviously they have video review now in professional so it helps the ref and helps the teams but here obviously we don’t have video reviews so it’s kinda the ref to call…” Coach Marote said.