PORTLAND—A week ago, Cheverus’ volleyball team was on the brink of a seismic, breakthrough victory.

But it slipped away, as the Stags dropped a five-set match at perennial powerhouse Scarborough.

Thursday evening at Keegan Gymnasium, Cheverus got another shot at the Red Storm and this time, it wouldn’t be denied its date with destiny.

The Stags, who expected to do big things this season under new coach Gary Powers, dug an early hole in the first game and lost, 25-20.

But Cheverus rebounded and controlled the rest of the match.

In the second set, behind the serving of senior captain Bella Cortez and the hitting of junior Mary Hackleman, the Stags rolled to a 25-12 win.

Scarborough held a 15-14 lead in the third game, but Cheverus responded, getting a pair of aces from sophomore Dylan Walker and two timely kills from freshman Frida Gray to go up 2-1 in the match by virtue of a 25-20 victory.

The Stags didn’t let the Red Storm hang around in the fourth set, shooting to a 20-7 lead and while Scarborough crept back to 23-17, consecutive Walker kills ended it and Cheverus had a 3-1 victory.

The Stags earned the biggest regular season win in program history, improved to 3-6 and in the process, dropped the Red Storm to 5-5.

“We needed this,” said Powers. “Beating Scarborough for the first time is huge. We choose to play Class A, but we only have 362 kids in the school. They have a middle school program, a first team, a JV and a varsity. The kids are playing well. They did what they needed to do.”

Encore

Last Thursday, the teams played a five set epic in Scarborough, where the Red Storm took the first two games, the Stags won sets three and four, then Scarborough eked out a 16-14 victory in the fifth game to capture the match.

Scarborough, a state finalist in 2023, has been up and down this year, also beating Bonny Eagle (3-0), South Portland (3-1), Windham (3-0) and Deering (3-2) while losing to Gorham (3-0), Biddeford (3-1), Yarmouth (3-2) and Falmouth (3-2).

Cheverus, meanwhile, opened with a 3-0 loss to Falmouth and a 3-1 setback to Cape Elizabeth. After giving Powers his first victory, 3-0, over Thornton Academy, the Stags were swept by both Yarmouth and Gorham, dropped a 3-1 decision to Greely and a 3-2 match to Scarborough before beating Portland in straight sets Tuesday.

Since the Cheverus program began varsity play a dozen years ago, it had never beaten Scarborough. In fact, it had never taken one of the state’s elite programs to five sets until last week.

“Last week was really important because we saw the team we could be,” Hackleman said. “We saw we could beat the best teams in the state.”

“Last week gave us confidence we could close it out, we just had to put the pieces together,” Cortez said.

Thursday, the Stags got the Red Storm on the ropes again and this time, delivered the knockout blow.

Scarborough started the match by winning the first three points, highlighted by a kill from senior Olivia Ingream. After an ace from sophomore Madi Clements, the lead was 5-1. Cheverus battled back within a point on a block and a kill from Gray, then drew even at 9-9 on an ace from Walker before going in front for the first time, 12-10.

The Red Storm then turned things around with six consecutive points, which featured two aces from junior Leo Porter and a block and a kill from senior Alison Canatsey. The Stags cut the deficit to 18-16, but would draw no closer, as Ingream had a kill, junior Adrian Swalla added a kill, then Ingream served up an ace. Cheverus crept back to 23-20 on a kill from Gray, but a kill from sophomore Caleb Atwood to culminate a lengthy point set up set point, which went to Scarborough, 25-20, when the Stags couldn’t return the ball.

In the first game, Ingream and Porter each had five service points, negating three kills from Gray.

The second set would be a different story.

After the Red Storm earned the first point, the next six went to Cheverus, as Hackleman had a pair of kills and Walker added another. Scarborough coach Nicole Petherbridge called timeout and the Red Storm crept within 7-5 on a kill from Ingream. The visitors made it 11-9 on an ace from freshman Nellie Stover, but they surrendered the next point on a ball that hit the low ceiling and after the next point went to the Stags on another ball that glanced off the ceiling, Walker had a kill and two more points made it 16-9. Scarborough got a point back, but the next three, punctuated by a Walker ace, made it 19-10. An Atwood kill momentarily delayed the inevitable, but Cheverus closed on a 6-1 run, featuring a pair of Hackleman kills, an ace from Cortez  and finally a block from Hackleman to end it, 25-12.

Hackleman had five kills in the set, while Cortez served nine points, senior Elaina White had six assists and junior Ada Pultorak added four service points.

The Stags kept momentum on their side with a third set victory.

This time, the hosts scored first, on a Hackleman block, but the Red Storm enjoyed leads of 4-1 (on an ace from Porter and a kill from Ingream) and 6-2 before Cheverus tied it up on an ace from junior Katie Napolitano Aberle. Scarborough went back in front, 11-8, as junior Izzy Harmon and Ingream had kills. The Stags fought back and tied the score on an ace from Napolitano Aberle before a kill from Ingream made it 15-14 Red Storm.

Cheverus then pulled away, as Hackleman had a kill to tie it and Gray added a kill for the lead before Hackleman served up an ace and Gray’s block made it 18-15. A block from Canatsey on a long point pulled Scarborough within 20-18, but Gray’s block and consecutive Walker aces set up Gray for a kill to close it out, 25-20, putting the Stags on the brink of victory, up two sets to one.

White had six assists in game three, while Gray added four kills and Hackleman had three blocks and three service points.

The Stags then never trailed in wrapping up the match in the fourth game.

A block from Gray set the tone, then Cortez served up an ace and three more points for a 5-0 advantage. A kill from Ingream and an ace from Clements pulled the Red Storm within 7-3, but Hackleman produced another kill and Walker followed with a block. A block and a kill from senior Evelyn Winslow cut Cheverus’ lead to 9-5. The game then turned for good at 12-7, when it appeared Stover served up an ace, but Scarborough served out of turn and the point instead went to the Stags.

And Cheverus would get the next seven points as well to pull away.

Walker got things started with an ace, then she served up another and Gray had a kill and by the time Walker commited a service fault, the Stags’ lead was 20-8. After the teams traded points, the Red Storm made another run, featuring a pair of blocks from Canatsey and two kills from Philibert, cutting a 21-9 deficit to 23-17 on a kill from Ingream, forcing Powers to call timeout.

And this time, Cheverus wouldn’t be denied, as a Walker kill set up match point, then Hackleman served, Scarborough returned the ball and at 7:43 p.m., another Walker kill ended the game, 25-17, and the match, 3-1, setting off a celebration years in the making.

“It’s crazy,” said Cortez. “I remember sophomore and junior year, we lost to them, We pushed them to five last week and this one shows a huge change in our program. It was team chemistry. We had a ton of energy. We pushed, played smart, saw their open spots, called their open spots and just put the ball down.”

“It’s amazing, so much fun,” Hackleman said. “I’m so excited we’re finally showing we’re the team we can be. We’ve been practicing hard and putting in serious work. It was hard to get our energy up early, but after the first set, we brought it back together. That last point was fun. I was just so happy.”

“We couldn’t get past that hump, so this is huge,” added Powers. “We’ve been so close with a lot of the teams like Gorham and Yarmouth. Last time gave us confidence. That and homecourt (advantage) and we started to click.”

Hackleman, who has moved into a middle hitting role after a season-ending injury to sophomore Eleanor Snyder, ended up with 11 kills, five blocks and eight service points.

“Mary would be our outside (hitter), but with Eleanor going down, she got moved to middle and she did a dynamite job tonight,” said Powers.

White had 19 assists.

“The setting was really good,” said Hackleman. “We were able to get the kills we couldn’t last time.”

Gray had nine kills and three blocks, Walker added 14 service points (including seven aces) and seven kills, Pultorak had 11 service points and Napolitano Aberle had seven service points, including three aces.

Cortez contributed 16 service points and that just began to tell her story.

“Bella was all over the court, directing traffic,” said Powers. “She brings everything. She has a good pulse on the team. She’s an excellent leader. We wouldn’t be where we are without her.”

For Scarborough, Ingream finished with 10 kills and seven service points, Porter had 15 service points, including four aces, Philibert had 10 assists, Harmon finished with six kills and Canatsey had nine blocks and four kills.

Playoff push

Scarborough has a huge week upcoming, as it hosts two pivotal matches, versus Falmouth Tuesday and Gorham Thursday.

Cheverus hopes to keep the good times rolling as it stays home to face Class B power York Tuesday, then goes to Falmouth Thursday of next week.

“We didn’t have the best start to the season, but we’re showing a great change,” said Cortez. We’re practicing hard. We have a great mindset coming into games. It’s a lot of fun. We’re a great team and we have all the pieces.”

“This will boost us for playoffs,” said Hackleman. “We just need to keep working on our serve-receive. That’s our main issue right now. If we can lock down on that, I think we can beat any team.”

“We want to keep the intensity we have and keep doing what we’re doing,” added Powers. “People had us pegged as a good team at the beginning of the season, but we couldn’t put it together and hopefully this shows everyone what we can do.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. 

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