Old Rochester saves two set points and sweeps Groton-Dunstable into the Division 3 semifinals

MATTAPOISETT Groton-Dunstable was one point from evening the match with Old Rochester twice in the second set Friday night, and the Bulldogs saved both set points, won the last three points of the set and never let the Crusaders back in.

No. 2 Old Rochester beat No. 10 Groton-Dunstable 3-0 in the MIAA Division 3 girls volleyball quarterfinals at Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett, the MIAA bracket shows, and the NFHS Network broadcast had the sets at 25-17, 27-25 and 25-9. The Bulldogs (20-2) have won 17 straight matches, and the bracket sends them to the state semifinals against No. 3 Lynnfield.

It was the third straight tournament match Old Rochester played at home, after a sweep of No. 34 Salem on Nov. 7 and a four-set win over No. 15 Hanover on Tuesday.

The second set

The middle set was Groton-Dunstable's best, as the Crusaders led 9-7 and 15-13, fell behind 19-18 and went back in front to lead 23-21.

The Bulldogs got one back to make it 23-22, and Groton-Dunstable reached set point at 24-23. Old Rochester tied it, the Crusaders went ahead 25-24 for a second set point, and the Bulldogs answered with three points in a row, 25-25, 26-25 and 27-25, to go up two sets to none.

Groton-Dunstable had been through long sets this fall, winning its Round of 16 match at No. 7 East Longmeadow on Monday, Nov. 9, after taking a 28-26 first set and dropping the second 28-26, and two of its regular-season losses went five sets.

How the first and third sets went

The first set was close through the middle, 12-11 Old Rochester, before the Bulldogs pulled ahead to 18-14 and 22-17 and scored the last three points to win it 25-17.

The third set belonged to Old Rochester from the start, as the Bulldogs led 4-1, 12-4 and 20-7 and closed it at 25-9, the same score they put on Salem in the first set of their tournament opener. When it ended, the Old Rochester players gathered at the net and families were on the floor.

Where the season stands

Old Rochester has not lost since Sept. 17 at Weston, and it went 13-0 to finish first in the South Coast Conference. Coach Jimmy Oliveira's team came into Friday with junior Erin Root leading the team in kills (267), freshman setter Adrianne Chua leading in assists (490) and aces (74), and senior Molly Franco leading in digs (163), according to the team's statistics on MaxPreps.

Groton-Dunstable, coached by David Parnell, finishes 16-7 after a 7-0 run to first place in Midland-Wachusett B. The Crusaders came to Mattapoisett on a five-match winning streak that included tournament wins at No. 7 East Longmeadow and over No. 23 Shawsheen Valley Tech, and their MaxPreps statistics list sophomore hitter Molly Daigle as their kills leader, senior Ella Barske as their setter and assists leader, and senior libero Ellery Kolodziej as their digs leader.

What comes next

Lynnfield, 19-1 in the MIAA seedings, swept No. 6 Weston on Thursday to reach the semifinals, and it is the team that ended Old Rochester's tournament run last November, 3-0 at Lynnfield on Nov. 7, 2025.

No. 4 Case, the other South Coast Conference team in the Division 3 semifinals, beat No. 5 Newburyport 3-2 on Friday and plays the winner of No. 1 Bellingham and No. 8 Pembroke, who meet at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the MIAA bracket. Case sits in the other half of the bracket, so the league rivals, who met Oct. 21 in a 3-1 Old Rochester win, could meet again only in the state final.

Before the match: our preview of Old Rochester and Groton-Dunstable.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.