After dropping the first set, Concord was poised to stay in the game and win the second with a 17-7 lead. Unfortunately for the Tide, Pinkerton Academy came back, and started battling every point as if it were its last, to take a two-set lead and the Astros went on to win 3-0.

The Astros seemed to have all the answers from the back, at the net and moving the ball. Once Concord fell behind, regaining the lead proved daunting. 

“We struggle with coming back from even little mistakes that we made. So even if we had three great kills in a row, the minute that we hit it out, it takes five more points for us to come back from that,” said Concord’s coach, Maria Wimpey. 

The two Division I teams are on different trajectories this season with Concord standing at 3-8 and Pinkerton at 8-3. Looking ahead the Tide has a game next week against powerhouse Goffstown before facing more favorable matchups against Keene and Dover.

On Monday, Concord’s senior outside hitter Brooke Wyatt had a phenomenal game — playing well at the net with good spikes facilitated by setter Sydney Fye and overall good defense. 

In the second set, the team rallied. Fye won the first six points from her serve and sophomores Olive Kelly and Maggie Taylor were performing well at the net alongside Wyatt. Likewise, libero Maddie Mikkelson was receiving serves well.

Concord’s next serve turn from Maggie Taylor pushed them to a 10-2 lead, however, Pinkerton’s outside hitters, Madison Andrade and Isabel McIntyre, turned on the heat at the net.

“They were down by about 10, and they were able to come back very, very quickly and make a mistake, but then they would get the ball back and get three more points. And so I think it's an energy thing still,” said Wimpey.

With the second set tied, 21-21, four huge rallies, two errors by Concord, and two huge spikes by Andrade ended the set.

Wimpey thought her team has improved at serving and receiving but is far off from where they want to be.

Concord would go on to lose the last set, 13-25, exhausted and mentally struggling to find  ways around Pinkerton’s defense. The team’s next game is at Goffstown on Oct. 7.