Burlington Central trips up Hampshire

GENOA — Burlington Central’s girls volleyball team had to rally from an early deficit in Game 2 against rival Hampshire Tuesday night, but the Rockets weathered the storm.

The Rockets overcame a 16-10 deficit to pull out Game 2. A big service run by Caiti Seibert was key in the Rockets’ comeback.

With Central trailing 16-11, she served 5 straight points to pull the Rockets even. After Hampshire regained the lead, Allie O’Reilly served 3 points, including a pair of aces, to put Central ahead and top-seeded BC finished off a 25-14, 25-23 win to advance to Thursday’s 6 p.m. regional final against host Genoa-Kingston, which defeated St. Edward in 3 sets in Tuesday’s second semifinal.

Lauren Wiltsie and Jenna Schudel had 8 kills apiece to lead the Rockets. Seibert served a total of 13 points for Burlington Central, while O’Reilly led the defense with 14 digs.

Caitlin Conlon had 7 kills and Erin Foss added 6 for Hampshire.

Central coach Marv Leavitt thought that the second-game test from Hampshire will help the Rockets (25-11) down the road.

“You want to be able to play under pressure,” he said. “We started to feel the pressure and we stepped up.”

Central broke open a close Game 1, again thanks to strong serving. The Rockets led just 12-9 when Seibert stepped to the line and served 7 straight points, including an ace. After she finally missed a serve, the Rockets got it right back on a Wiltsie kill and Wiltsie served 3 more points to give Central a commanding 23-11 lead.

Hampshire shot out to a 9-3 lead in the second game, thanks to 6 straight service points, including 2 aces, by Julianna Gass.

“We just came out with the energy,” said Hampshire coach Andrew Lindley. “We didn’t give up. Our girls were passing really well in the second game. I thought (Gass) went on a great serving run there in the second game and gave us the confidence that we could play with these guys.”