On Thursday, Sept. 22, Central Maine Community College defeated the NECC Knights three sets to none at the Sports and Fitness Center on the Haverhill campus in Haverhill, Mass.

The Knights lost the first set 25-13, the second set they lost 25-18 and the third set 25-22.

The game officially started at 6:02 p.m. with Mustangs getting the first point of the game.

The Knights started the game in a slow starts. They were down 10-2 when Coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill decided to call a time out.

Central Maine was up 16 to 4, absolutely the Mustangs had the night number in the first set. The Knights were trying to rally at the end of the first set. The Knights went on a 5-1 run.

Central Maine won the first set 25 to 15 against the Knights.

Pelosi said “I think it was much of the same thing. Sloppy and positioning and our opponent is smart and skilled enough to take advantage of that. I will also add the second thought that something we have been improving… and you know I think that we were working on our mental process and we’re making progress and I think the players are appreciating the fact that they individually bounce back from situations … I think they are starting to notice the partner.”

On the second set the Knights were on a run. The Knights began the second set on a 10-3 run. The Knights had a good lead and I thought the way they were performing in the beginning of the second set with that lead that they had, that they would regroup and would win the second set. Eventually that wasn’t the case. The  Knights could not hold up that lead as the Mustangs came back to take the lead and eventually steal a set from the Knights, winning the second set 25-18.

I asked coach Pelosi what this team has to do to not give up the lead when they have a comfortable lead during the set?

“I think that it’s not going to matter unless if we do the fundamentals nothing is going to matter because our competition is you know the level of competition in the conferences this year it’s just too high so we can hustle all that we want, the captains can give great speeches but at the end of the day  were not in positioning, it’s not going to matter very much…” said Coach Pelosi.

The third set began with a a back and forth battle between the Knights and Mustangs. The Knights need to win that set in order to force a fourth set. The Knights had some issues in the line up serving they had the wrong server twice in that set. The Knights made it close, they made it interesting but it wasn’t enough as the Mustangs won the third set 25-22 and won the game three set to none.

After the game Coach Pelosi had a team meeting, the message that he told them was “… I felt like as a team we haven’t been playing clean volleyball in terms of positioning and in terms of some of the fundamental stuff. Players being in the right proper position, defensively, transitioning for their hitting spots and players communicating with one and another so this kind some fundamental things that my hope this point in the season we would’ve had it cleaned up… I guess the mindset getting the players in the mindset of things that they have to take this thing more seriously and they have to play like a team…” he said to me the next day when we had a phone interview.