Centennial’s No. 3 volleyball team returned every starter this fall and it showed in their season-opening four-set victory over No. 9 Howard Tuesday night.

Last fall, the Eagles lost four matches — three of them to Howard, including the five-set regional semifinal. Now, the Lions are rebuilding while the Eagles are a little ahead of the game.

Mailinh Godschall led host Centennial with 12 kills in the 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-20 Howard County league win. Emma Booth, Kaley Maclellan and Skylar Brown had five kills each while setter Brianna Bossom dished out 39 assists. All five are seniors.

“Having a lot of our starters back plays a big role,” Bossom said, “so we don’t have to go through that point of everybody has to get to know each other and you have to work through how each other plays during a game, how each other plays during practices. We already know how people play in games and even through playoffs, we know how people play when they’re tested in an environment like this.”

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The Lions, with only four seniors, played a gritty match that wasn’t over until the final three points.

They gave the Eagles plenty to contend with throughout, rallying from seven points down in the first set and 10 points down in the second to pull within two or three points. Howard led the entire third set and fought back to tie the fourth at 19.

“I’m very proud of the way my athletes handled themselves tonight,” Howard coach Grant Scott said. “I said at the very beginning it was going to take us time to come together. We had runs where they pushed points on us and we didn’t let that get to us. We were down big in that second game and to be able to make that second game close impressed me. We’ve got a young team. We’re still trying to figure things out.”

Howard trailed in that second set, 22-12, before rallying to within 23-21 with help from a couple of Corinne Chau service aces and a couple of Kamyla Bullock kills. The Lions then had back-to-back net violations and Centennial won the set.

The Lions quickly rebounded and led the entire third set. Centennial pulled within 23-22 on a Maclellan kill. Howard’s Natalie Wheeler then gave the Lions a 24-22 lead with a cross-court kill that Eagles coach Mike Bossom insisted was out. The officials gave him a red card which resulted in a point and the set for Howard.

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In the fourth set, both teams boosted their offenses, but Howard tied it with defense. On the point that knotted the match at 19, libero Morgan Harris had four digs while battling leg cramps. The Lions could not sustain the rally, however, committing three straight hitting errors that all but sealed the match for Centennial.

Godschall said one of the keys to the win was the Eagles’ varied hitting.

“I think our team offense is really good because it’s fast,” she said. “We like to run a fast offense and run different sets, so we move around everyone so it confuses the other team a little bit and we like to hit different shots like line and cross, so we switch it up.”

The Lions played without one of their top hitters from last season, senior Kelenna Onukwugha, who is still sidelined after surgery for a knee injury suffered last season. Scott said he didn’t know when she would return.

Senior outside hitters Chau and Bullock led the way for Howard with 12 and eight kills, respectively. Chau and Harris combined for 35 digs. Setters Eleni Perrus and Natalie Wheeler combined for 32 assists.

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Noting that the Lions graduated five seniors, Chau said she expects the Lions to continue to get better as the season progresses.

“One thing we have to work on is our team chemistry,” she said, “but I think we did pretty good for our first actual game. I’m really excited because I’m a competitive person and I think the rest of my team is too, so I love playing teams like this where they push us to our limit.”

NO. 1 RESERVOIR 3, LONG REACH 0

NO. 6 CROFTON 3, NORTH POINT 0

NO. 7 GLENELG 3, ATHOLTON 0

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No. 7 Glenelg served up a three set sweep of Atholton in its season-opener, Tuesday, prevailing 25-20, 29-27, 25-16.

Nabi Bae (8 kills, 5 aces, 6 digs) Lindsay Kelley (2 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs, 21 assists) Lauren LaPointe ( 7 kills, 4 aces, 6 digs) Liesl Walter (4 kills, 1 ace, 1 block) and Olivia McDonough (1 kill, 2 assists, 1 ace, 15 digs) led the way for the Gladiators.

NO. 8 RIVER HILL 3, WILDE LAKE 0

EDGEWOOD 3, DUNDALK 0

McKenzie Badham, with 5 assists and 8 aces, and Zyiana Rowlette, with 12 aces and 3 kills, led Edgewood to a three set sweep of Dundalk (25-8, 25-6, 25-11). Sylvia Marin added 2 assists, 2 aces and 2 kills.

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NO. 13 SEVERNA PARK 3, MCDONOGH 1

CENTURY 3, CATONSVILLE 0

FREDERICK FORCE 3, GLENELG COUNTRY 0

JOPPATOWNE 3, CARVER VO-TECH 0

LANSDOWNE 3, OWINGS MILLS 0

MARRIOTTS RIDGE 3, HAMMOND 1

MOUNT HEBRON 3, OAKLAND MILLS 0

PATTERSON MILL 3, NORTH EAST 0

ST. PAUL VI (VA) 3, ST. VINCENT PALLOTTI 0

GIRLS SOCCER

NO. 2 ARCHBISHOP SPALDING 0, NO. 5 BROADNECK 0

Click here to read our full story by Derek Toney

NO. 13 RIVER HILL 7, WILDE LAKE 0

NO. 14 PERRY HALL 3, NO. 11 HEREFORD 2

Click here to read our full story by Nelson Coffin

EDGEWOOD 4, KENWOOD 2

Led by a goal and two assists by Tori Figinski, Edgewood pushed past Kenwood for a 4-2 victory, Tuesday evening.

Jenna Gardner and Sam Donovan scored the first two goals for the Rams and each was assisted by Figinski. Figinski, with helper from Donovan, sent Edgewood to the half with a 3-2 lead. The Rams fourth goal was scored by Nevaeh Vick with Niaya Gordon registering the assist.

FRIENDS 2, POLY 1

GLENELG 1, ATHOLTON 0

LIBERTY 8, CATOCTIN 0

MOUNT HEBRON 2, OAKLAND MILLS 0

NORTH HARFORD 9, ABERDEEN 2

PERRYVILLE 3, OXFORD AREA (PA) 1

SOUTH CARROLL 1, BEL AIR 0

TOWSON 3, CATONSVILLE 0

WINTERS MILL 4, THOMAS JOHNSON 1

BOYS SOCCER

CATONSVILLE 2, NO. 8 TOWSON 1

NO. 9 CENTENNIAL 2, HOWARD 0

NO. 13 FALLSTON 9, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY 1

ATHOLTON 3, GLENELG 2

FRANKLIN 3, EASTERN TECH 1

GERSTELL 3, CITY COLLEGE 1

HAMMOND 1, MARRIOTTS RIDGE 0

HEREFORD 3, PERRY HALL 0

MILFORD MILL 8, PATAPSCO 1

MOUNT HEBRON 3, OAKLAND MILLS 0

NORTH HARFORD 5, ABERDEEN 0

PIKESVILLE 3, LOCH RAVEN 1

RESERVOIR 5, LONG REACH 1

RIVER HILL 2, WILDE LAKE 1

SPARROWS POINT 3, DULANEY 2

WESTMINSTER 3, LINGANORE 0

SATURDAY

HEREFORD 2, PATTERSON MILL 1

HEREFORD 1, NO. 11 BEL AIR 0

The Hereford Bulls opened their 2022 boys soccer season on Saturday at the Bel Air tournament and the Baltimore County school topped a pair of Harford County squads to start the year at 2-0.

Oliver Shive scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Patterson Mill, while Nathan Punte and Yianni Garefalakis each produced an assist.

The Bulls knocked off No. 11 Bel Air in the second game, with a 1-0 shutout. Jonathan Espinoza scored the game’s only goal and he was assisted by Nick Antonakis.

FIELD HOCKEY

NO. 1 ARCHBISHOP SPALDING 7, ARUNDEL 0

FRANKLIN 10, LOCH RAVEN 0

GLEN BURNIE 7, EDGEWOOD 0

MANCHESTER VALLEY 4, TUSCARORA 0

MOUNT DE SALES 5, CATONSVILLE 0

NORTH EAST 3, ELKTON 0

PARK 4, INDIAN CREEK 0

This will be updated

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