On Tuesday, Oct. 25, Holyoke Community College defeated the Knights to advance to the next round of the playoff.

The game at Whittier Tech ended in a 1-1 tie and Holyoke advance to the semifinals due to penalty kicks.

In the first half the Knights had a big chance to put this game one nothing in their favor. In the 19 minutes in the game Sam De Amorim of Methuen passed to Fadi Serhan of Middletown as the Knights did not scored.

One minute later Holyoke cashed in as Michael Grochowski of Westfield scored the first goal of the game to make this 1-0 in favor of Holyoke.

In the first period Holyoke was playing more aggressive then the Knights.

In the 44 minutes of the game Johnathan Diaz of Methuen shot the ball, the goalie  jumped and prevented the Knights from scoring. Diaz was so close to tie the game.

In the first half the Knights had five shots on goal while Holyoke had 10. The Knights had four corner kicks and Holyoke one, both teams also had three offsides.

In the 51 minutes of the game the Knights missed an opportunity to tie the game. The Knights missed a lot of opportunities during the game that they couldn’t cash in.

The Knights in the second half were playing more aggressive than the first half.

Four minutes left before the regulation was over Leonard Rodriguez Ortiz of Methuen scored a game tying shot to force this game to overtime.

“Great feeling you know, I love it I loved it all at the moment at the end of the day it is what it is,” said Coach Eusebio Marote.

The Knights had 11 shots on goal while Holyoke had nine. The Knights had two corner kicks while Holyoke had one. Holyoke had two offside while Knights had none. Knights one fou; and Holyoke five during the second half.

In overtime Diaz almost ended but he missed the shot.

During overtime you play 10 minutes with five minutes in between break.

The first half ove overtime Knights had four shots on goal Holyoke none. The Knights also had one corner kick while Holyoke none. Both team had no offside and no fouls.

In the second half of overtime the referee ejected a fan out of the stadium.

In the second half of the final 10 minutes of overtime, the Knights had five shots on goal while Holyoke had two. Two corner kick for the Knights. Both teams did not had an offside. Holyoke had two fouls while the Knights had zero.

During the penalty shots Holyoke made four goals and the Knights three to eliminate the Knights from the postseason.

“Yeah they only had one chance and they put it away, it’s stupid honestly in my opinion they get one chance and end luckily… it’s just a very unfortunate game to be honest I think we were definitely deserved it more in my opinion, I don’t care what everyone says,” said Coach Marote.

On Sunday, Oct. 23, Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) Women’s  Volleyball defeated NECC Knights three sets to none in the semi finals at The David M. Bartley Center for Athletics & Recreation in Holyoke.

CCRI Knights won set one 25-19, won set two 25-18 and won the third and final set 25-14.

The winner of this game will play in the championship against Mass Bay or Holyoke.

The game officially started at 12:02 pm

In the first set Haileigh LaFlamme scored the first Knights points when the Knights were trailing 3-1.

The Knights went on to score four more points and take a 5-3 lead.

CCRI tied and took the lead but NECC fought back. When the game was tied at nine a nice save by Ashley Martinez of Lawrence prevented  CCRI from scoring.

The game was 12-11 NECC trailing, but a spike from Caroline Burns of Haverhill tied it up at 12.

CCRI then took the lead and increased that lead by three.

The Knights of NECC were losing 21 to 16 when the timeout was called. CCRI was on a run against Knights.

NECC lost to CCRI 25 to 18.

In the second set the Knights of NECC were losing 2-0, but the Knights scored three straight points to make this game 3-2 in favor of NECC Knights.

The game unfortunately was tied at five after CCRI took the lead. The Knights of NECC did not read the ball if it was in or out. When the ball is out and you don’t touch it, it means the point goes to your team but if it was in and you don’t touch it the point goes to the other team.

After the game I interviewed NECC Knight Women’s Volleyball head coach Mike Pelosi of Haverhill and we talked about reading the ball.

“It wasn’t a pattern that I noticed but what I would say about that is we got percentages and we go off our best guess, so we never know, not even the person hitting the ball and serving the ball know where it is going to land so defensively we tried to read patterns and tried to read the trajectory, we tried to read the spin and in or flow with the ball and make an educated guess where is going in or out,” said Pelosi.

The Knights of NECC were down by five, they were losing 13 to 8.

CCRI’s largest lead of the game so far is 11 when they were down 19 to 8. Who was down 19 to 8, I am a bit confused of whether it is CCRI leading or NECC leading at that point.

CCRI increased that lead to 12 when they were losing 21-9.

“I think that CCRI had a very strong roster this year, and I think that’s credit to the coach, they did a good job recruiting and he did a great job training his team, …. CCRI played today, (it’s)very clear to me

that they were practicing and developing with intensity and I have no doubt if I work (at) one of his practices I (would) see the players sprinting around the entire time they (were) very focused…” said Coach Pelosi.

The Knights of NECC were on a 5-1 run when CCRI coach called a time out.

The Knights of NECC were still down 22-14 and they lost the second set 25-18.

In the third set the Knights of NECC got a few points early to begin the set.

Heather Walsh of Harwich made a nice block from keeping the Knights of CCRI from scoring.

The Knights lost 25-14 in set three.

On Saturday Oct. 22, the NECC Knights defeated Bristol Community College 1-0at Ronald F. Arieta Football field in Taunton.

The game started at 4:30 p.m.

In the 17th minutes of the game the Knights had an opportunity to strike first. Sam De Amorim of Methuen shot the ball, but it was saved by the goalkeeper as the Knights did not score.

De Amorim was arguing with the referee, also few other players as well, that Bristol touched the ball but it didn’t gone  the Knights favor. Other players was arguing as well.

In 26 minutes De Amorim scored the only goal for the Knights, that it was the game changer in the game that goal was the difference of the game. De Amorim also scored three goals two days prior in the Oct. 22 contest against Bristol.

“(He’s) been a big player you know for us, definitely big that we got the result today, definitely not easy very difficult, so it is what it is we got the win though,” said Coach Eusebio Morate.

The Knights had four shots on goal and Bristol five shots on goal. The Knights had four fouls, Bristol five, the Knights had two offside, Bristol none. Bristol had four corner kicks while Knights none.

In the 53rd minute of the game Jaden Shaut of Haverhill almost scored on a corner kick as the ball curved and hit the post.

The Knights had their first corner kick of the game in the 58 minutes of the game.

The Knights weren’t playing aggressive throughout the entire game.

In the 64th minute, there was nice save by Anhuar Ramos Garcia of Nashua, N.H.

The Knights had a yellow card in the 74th minutes of the game.

The referee wasn’t consistent for the entire match.

“It’s just a couple calls that make no sense to me and they know it wasn’t 50/50 and they call for the other team so that (got) me pissed a little bit…” said De Amorim.

The Knights had two shots on goal and Bristol eight shots on goal. Bristol also had four fouls and the Knights two. Both teams also had three corner kicks.

On Thursday Oct. 20, Great Bay Community College defeated NECC Knights three sets to none in Portsmouth N.H.

The Knights lost set one and set two identical 25-23, and they lost the third and final set 25-21.

After a long intro ceremony of Great Bay  senior Anna Layfield of Portsmouth N.H. final regular season game it was now time for volleyball action.

The game officially started at 6:13.

It was back and forth game in the beginning of the first set.

Caroline Burns of Haverhill scored the first point of the game, a spike by Kaithlene Perez-Flores tied at five.

The Knights made a few more points but they were trailing. A tip by Burns tied this game at 8 a piece.

The Knights were up by two the score was 10 to 8.

Great Bay came back to tie the game at 12.

The Knights were up by two when they had a 16 to 14 lead over Great Bay.

It was a good match up in the first set, either team could’ve won it, it could’ve gone either way.

The Knights were up 20 to 18 and needed five more points to win the set.

The game was tied 22-22 after assistant head coach, coach Marissa Reardon called a timeout.

After the time out Great Bay went on a 3-1 run to defeat the Knights 25-23 on set one.

The Knights’ momentum in the beginning of the sets was good but in the middle and the end of the set the momentum shifted into a negative way.

“Yep, that happened throughout the sets, we had enough stamina through the beginning and by the end we kinda keep losing it and I think that definitely affects the score,” Coach Reardon said.

In the second set Great Bay started off a little hot.

Great Bay was out of order, the point was awarded to the Knights, Great Bay was up by three, the Knights were losing 9 to 6.

The Knights scored the next three points, including two of them from Heather Walsh of Harwich.

The game was tied at nine and at 10 apiece.

The Knights took a one-point lead over Great Bay and they increased that score by three.

The Knights had a 13-10 lead.

Great Bay scored a few points to inch even closer.

Great Bay then took advantage of some miscommunication for the Knights.

The Knights were up 23-18, two points away from winning the set.

Great Bay went on a 7-0 run to beat the Knights and had commending two sets to none lead.

“I don’t think we were in the correct position I think that definitely affected the scoring,” Reardon said.

In the third set the Knights were down 4-0, which means Great Bay had a 11-0 run going back to the end of the second set that Great Bay finished 7-0.

Ashley Martinez of Lawrence scored the first point of the Knights.

The Knights started a run on their own, the Knights went on a 5-0 run to take 5-4 lead over Great Bay.

Great Bay bounced back and was up by two.

Burns hit the ball to made it 9-8 as the Knights were losing by a point, Perez-Flores tied and Martinez give the Knights the lead.

Just like that the Knights had a 10-9 lead.

Eventually Great Bay was up 14 to 13 when coach Reardon called a timeout.

Great Bay then increased that lead to five.

The Knights cut Great Bay deficit by two as they were losing 22-18.

The Knights lost in set three 25-21 and lost in three straight sets.

I asked coach Reardon what happened during the game — the Knights beat this team back in the Sport and Fitness Center on Oct. 13, three sets to one.

“Yeah, I guess you have good games and you have bad games and I think this is the game that we could’ve won but I don’t think we played the best that we could’ve,” Reardon said.

On Saturday Oct 15, NECC Knights Volleyball defeated Mass Bay Community College in three straight sets in the second game of their tri-match and won both games of their doubleheader.

The Knights won the first two sets identical 25-16 and won the third set 25-17.

The Knights faced Mass Bay back in Newton on Oct. 6, when the Knights won three straight sets back in their place.

During the Knights warm up before the second game of their tri-match Ashly Martinez of Lawrence was down on the floor for several minutes and the trainer had to come and check on her but the good thing was she was ready to go in the beginning of the first set.

“She ended up getting a few muscle spasms so we had to wait for a few minutes so by the time the first set was about to start she was able to play so we were able to put her on the set,” said assistant head coach Marissa Reardon.

The game officially started at 3:48 pm.

The Knights started the game on a 5-1 run over Mass Bay a nice serve by Heather Walsh of Harwich that the ball just snuck in to made it 7-3.

I asked Reardon about the run that the Knights had “Yes, that we did that was definitely helpful to our outside hitter for helping out she (Kaithlene Perez-Flores) has a great serve so that’s definitely work,” said Reardon.

The Knights were up 12-5, they were up by seven when Mass Bay decided to call a timeout.

The Knights increased their lead by 10, they were up 19 to 9.

The score was 20-13 in favor of the Knights when the Knights were out of rotation.

The Knights had three total out of rotation during the game against Mass Bay.

Kaithlene Perez-Flores of Lowell made it 24-16, it was a set point for the Knights as Mass Bay hit the ball out and the Knights won set one 25-16 to Mass Bay.

In the second set the Knights were down early the Knights were looking to rally against Mass Bay. The Knights did just that, the Knights didn’t just tie they took the lead.

The Knights increased their lead to five when Perez-Flores was serving. It was 15-10 with three points that she scored made it 18-10 as they were up by eight.

A spike by Caroline Burns of Haverhill made it 21-11 in favor of the Knights.

Burns gave the finishing touches in set two, she tapped the ball with her two hands up. The ball went in as the Knights took care of business in the first two sets and had a commanding two sets to none lead.

In the third set the Knights hadn’t got a lead early in the match until they tied the game at 9 and took a 11 to 9 lead over Mass Bay.

Mass Bay went on a run against the Knights.

I asked Reardon about the slow start the Knights had in the third set.

“ I think our stamina was there in the first two sets and I think it declined a little bit in the beginning of the third (set) but I was very grateful they were able to pick it up at the end of the third set to win the game,” said Reardon.

The Knights were looking to rally after the time out and they did just that. They tied  the game at 17.  

The Knights took the lead as Perez-Flores passed it over to Martinez for a spike to make it 18 to 17.

The Knights went on a run late in the third set to defeat Mass Bay three set to none. 25-17 was your final for set three.

I ask Ashley Dominguez of Lawrence how is it fell having two wins in one game ?

“It feels amazing to see our team has grown and we have a connection know we played better know it’s just amazing the feeling is great,” she said.

On Saturday Oct. 15, NECC Knights defeated the Bulldogs three sets to two In the first game of a tri-match against Bunker Hill Community College.

The Knights lost the first set 25-18, the Knights won the second set 27-25, the Knights lost the third set 25-17, the Knights won the fourth set 25-21 and the Knights won the decisive set five 15-9.

The last time the Knights faced the Bulldogs prior to this matchup was in Sept. 29. That didn’t go well for the Knights way back in Charlestown as they were knocked around in three straight set.

“We find a few different focuses for the game and I feel like getting some different ones definitely work so I think definitely that helped them win,” said Assistant head coach Marissa Reardon.

The game officially started at 11:03 a.m.

The Knights was down 3-1 to start this contest but they tied the game at three.

A good save by Caroline Burns  of Haverhill  for the Knights prevented the Bulldogs from scoring.

A good spike by Burns put this game 8-5 in favor of the Knights. The Bulldogs rotation was wrong to put this game 9-6 in favor of the Knights.

The Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run against the Knights before the Knights finally could attack a run.

The Knights were down by nine 23-14 when the Knights called a timeout.

After the timeout the Knights settled in a little, the Knights scored two more and the Bulldogs one more to make this game 24-16 and a spike by Burns made this game 24-17 but it wasn’t enough as the Knights lost the first set 25-18.

“Definitely after the first set we were definitely pushing the girls we did try a different rotation and again rotations are hit and miss on how it i going to go in. Certain rotation work and certain parts of the rotation don’t work,” said Reardon.

In the second set Bulldogs were on a 4-0 run before Burns spike made it 4-1. The Knights scored the next two points to make it 4-3 in favor of the Bulldogs. The Knights eventually tied the game at seven but couldn’t take the lead.

Kaithlene Perez-Flores of Lowell spike tied the game at eight.

The Bulldogs went on a run against the Knights. The Knights were down by four when they came back to tie the game at 13.

The Knights were s down by five, they were losing 20 to 5 when coach Reardon called a timeout.

After the time out the Knights settled in and make this game close. Perez-Flores was serving and made two straight points.

The Knights were up 25-24 and needed one more point to win, but instead the Bulldogs tied it at 25.

The Knights made the next two and won the second set 27-25.

In the third set the Knights were down three to one when they tied the game and took the lead 4-3. The Knights were up 5-3 when Bunker Hill scored three straight point to make it 6 to 5. The Knights eventually tied the game.

It was a good game early in the third set back and forth battle. The Knights were down by four 17-13 when coach Reardon called a timeout.

The Bulldog went on a run to increase the lead over the Knights.

The Bulldogs won set three over the Knights 25-17.

In set four the Knights were down early but they came back to tie the game at 7.

The Knights made it 10-7.

The Knights were up 16-12 when the Bulldogs’ miscommunicated as the ball landed between them.

The Knights called a time out when they were winning by three, six points away from winning the set.

The Bulldogs came back and made it a one point game as they took the lead 20-19.

The Knights tied the game at 21 as the ball was in.

Burns took the lead as they were up 22-21 with a spike.

I had a chance to talk to Burns after the game and talk to her about her performance.

“I think I just really want them to beat them since they beat us last time. So I tried to put my A game and get excited. It’s hard to get excited early in the morning but we all kinda hyped each other up and it’s also nice that your teammates are comforting and cheering you on,” said Burns.

Burns also said that they were working on stamina, to communicate better and work together as a team as a whole.

The Knights late in the game went on a 7-2 run to finish the set as they won 25-21 and forced a decisive set five.

In the decisive set five you need to win by 15 points to win the set.

In the beginning of the fifth set it was a good battle, back and forth game before the Knights increased their lead by three as they were up 8 to 5 and both teams switch sides.

The Knights were up 12 to 8 when the Bulldog coach called a timeout.

The Knights went on to win the decisive game five 15 to 9.

On Friday Oct. 14, Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI Knights) defeated NECC Knights 3 to 1 to snap the soccer Knights  four game winning streak.

Knights had a four game winning streak coming into Oct. 14 contest in the Haverhill campus.

It was a return of Coach First Name Marote who had missed a few games because he was sick.

“Yeah, you know it was definitely hard. I was actually watching sideline from a far in my vehicle keeping eye on my team and you know our assistant coach did very well the last two matches pick up a couple win,” said Marote.“ So that’s always a great thing, you know our coaching staff here we believe everyone who is part of it from me to my assistant coaches and my goalkeeper coach. So it was good I am happy to be back, a nice beautiful day big game in conference today, it can factor a lot of things for us if we win today.”

The game was supposed to start at 3:30 but the CCRI Knights did not arrive until 3:50, 20 minutes after the start time.

The game officially started at 4:04.

In the fifth minutes of the game Sam De Amorim of Methuen almost scored as he kicked it directly to the goaltender.

In the 20th minute of the game Fadi Serhan of Middleton missed an opportunity that would’ve put up the Knights 1-0, but instead he over kicked as the Knights missed that opportunity to take the lead.

In the twenty minutes Juan Barrios of Pawtucket, R.I. scored the first goal of the game an assist of his brother Roy Barrios of Pawtucket, R.I.

In the 25^th minute of the game the referee gave Cam’ron Aldana of Providence, R.I., a yellow card.

The Knights had few opportunities in the first half but couldn’t cash in as they missed a few opportunities.

In the first half the NECC Knights had eight shots on goal and CCRI had five. Both teams had at least one corner kick in the first half. CCRI Knights had six fouls while NECC Knights had four. The NECC Knights had two offside while CCRI Knights had one. NECC Knights had eight saves while CCRI Knights had four.

In the second half in the 74 minutes Wilson Penafiel of Providence, R.I. scored on an assist from Juan Barrios.

In the 81 minutes Penafiel scored the second goal of the ball game in an assist fromf Aaron Ramos of Warwick.

One minute later, Casey Darcey of Warwick, R.I., was issued a yellow card.

In the second half CCRI Knights had seven shots on goal while the NECC Knights had four. CCRI Knights had four corner kick while NECC Knights had two. NECC Knights had seven fouls while CCRI Knights had one. NECC Knights had five saves and CCRI had four.

On Thursday Oct. 13, NECC Knights defeated Great Bay Community College three sets to one.

The Knights lost set one 25-20 and came back to win the next three sets, set two 25-21, set three 26-24 and on the fourth set 25-15.

The game officially started 6:32 pm.

The Knights scored the first three points of the game before Great Bay scored the next three to tie it up at 3.

The Knights were up 7 to 5 before Great Bay evened the score apart at 7.

The Knights were down a point when Ashley Dominguez of Lawrence tied the game at 11.

It was a good battle early in the contest between these two teams.

The Knights were looking to get themselves into the game when Caroline Burns of Haverhill spiked the ball to make it 19-17 still in favor of Great Bay.

Great Bay was on a run against the Knights as the Knights fell short 25-20 in the first set.

“Definitely, the first set I felt it was a little rocky but I feel like the girls definitely pulled out of a hole they were in when it comes to point,” said assistant head coach Marissa Reardon.

In the second set the Knights were up 3-2 when Great Bay called an unusual early timeout way too quickly in the second set.

After the time out Great Bay went on a 5-0 run against the Knights.

After that the Knights scored the next three to put this game 7 to 6. Great Bay missed up the order to tie the game up at seven.

The Knights was up 12 to 9 when Ashley  Martinez of Lawrence hit the ball and the ball barely went in to make it 13 to 9.

The momentum shifted he Knights’ way as they started to get into a run and were looking to blow it open in the second set.

The Knights were winning 13 to 9 as they increased that lead to 20 to 14. The Knights were five points away from winning the set.

The Knights increased their lead to 8, that lead Great Bay to shorten that lead a little bit but the Knights won the second set 25-21 to tie the series up 1-1.

“The second set it was a lot better they fixed a lot of the mistakes that we talked about in between the sets and I thought it went really well,” Reardon said.

In the third set Martinez did a great save from preventing Great Bay from scoring to make it 2-0 in favor of the Knights. Great Bay went on a 7-0 run before coach Reardon called a time out.

Kathleen Perez Flores of Lowell made it 11-9, she tip  the ball with both of her hands up and the ball went in.

The Knights were up 16 to 14 but eventually Great Bay tied up at 17.

The Knights were up 19 to 17 before Great Bay tied the game and took a 20- 19 lead.

At the end of the third set it got pretty intense as the Knights defeated Great Bay 26-24 in the third set.

In the fourth set with the Knights winning  two set to one over Great Bay.

The Knights were down 8 to 6 before they tied the game and took the lead 9 to 8.

When the Knights have that 9 to 8 lead Great Bay had no chance to defeat the Knights.

The Knights went on a 10-2 run against Great Bay to put this game at 19 to 10 as the Knights were 6 points away from winning the set.

Great Bay was looking for a comeback but the Knights would not allow that to happen in their house as the Knights defeated Great Bay 25 to 15.