D-III volleyball: Nute took care of unfinished business

PLYMOUTH — There was no let-up in the Nute High School volleyball team this year. The Rams played every match with purpose right up until the final point, including the Division III state championship Friday night.

And like the previous 19 opponents, Nute put this one away as well, a 3-0 state championship win over playoff nemesis Winnisquam to complete a 20-0 season as D-III champions.

Winnisquam swept Nute in last year’s final and also eliminated the Rams from the 2011 tournament in the quarterfinals.

Friday was a different story.

“We knew we could beat them,” said junior outside Alisha Flanagan, who had 22 kills and 20 digs in the semis and final combined and ended the season with a team-high 204 kills. “We said this is our house, we are here to win and we did.”

Nute had one significant set-changing surge in each set that made all the difference.

Leading the first set 20-18, the Rams went on a 5-0 run to win the set, 25-18, getting two kills from freshman Nikki Flanagan, while here sister Alisha served for four of the points.

In the second set, Nute was down 16-15, when it went on a 7-0 run to take a commanding 22-16 lead. Junior Mariah Burke stepped to the service line and rattled off six consecutive points to bolster the run. Nikki Flanagan, playing like anything but a freshman, had two of her 10 kills to help cement Nute‘s control of the set.

“Honestly, I didn’t think she would be playing on the varsity this year,” said Alisha Flanagan about sister Nikki. “I knew she would be on the varsity, but I didn’t actually think she would be playing with me. On top of the championship, it’s nice to win it with your sister.”

“She’s young, but she’s got so much potential,” said Nute coach Kristin Wilson, who was named D-III coach of the year Friday. “I think it helps that she’s learning from Heidi, who has been a four-year starter in the middle. She’s got a lot of people to look up to. ... She’s got a bunch of coaches on the court because she is the little baby of the family out there.”

Finally, now up 2-0, the Rams trailed Winnisquam 12-9 in the third set, but a 12-1 spurt turned the tables and the Rams had a 21-13 lead. Senior middle Heidi Cloutier, who played inspired volleyball over the final three rounds of the tournament, had two kills and three scoring blocks during the run in which classmate Michelle Guindon served for eight points.

In the final three playoff wins, Cloutier totaled 42 kills and 19 blocks.

“I think we were able to set the tone at the very beginning with the offense and off Heidi’s block,” coach Wilson said. “She was fantastic up front tonight. That’s probably the best game she’s had her entire career. She just came out and she hit and she blocked. The quarterfinals, the semifinals — she’s just been on fire at the end of the season.”

In addition, senior outside Ella Gourlay chipped in with 16 kills and 15 digs in the final two matches, while Guindon racked up 50 assists to end the year with 465 and 1,363 for her career — 13 shy of coach Wilson’s school record of 1,376.

“I could put it anywhere and they would get it,” said Guindon of her hitters. “It’s so awesome to have such a big hitting team to rely on. We don’t just have one strong hitter like a lot of teams do. Every single rotation we have people who can hit the ball over the net efficiently and make it hard to do anything with it.”

It was Nute’s seventh trip to the championship in nine years and its fourth title in that time, and third undefeated state crown.

For the team’s three senior captains — Cloutier, Gourlay and Guindon — it capped a four-year ride that just got better and better. Nute went 6-11 and lost in the first round of the playoffs when they were freshman. As sophomores, the Rams went 11-7 and lost in the quarters at Winnisquam and last year they made it to the finals, but lost again to Winnisquam. Their record was 15-5.

“We realized how bad our defense needed to be there,” Gourlay said. “It needed to be spot on. We lost to them last year and we wanted to do everything to not let that happen again.”

Mission accomplished.

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● Coach Wilson handed out championship medals, giving one, with a hug, to her dad, Gary Wilson, who was the team’s reliable stat guy all season long.

● It was Nute’s fifth state volleyball title since 1978. The Rams won three D-III crowns in a row from 2006 to 2008, which included a 54-match winning streak — third longest in N.H. behind Gilford (92, 2000-05) and Oyster River (66, 1993-97). Coach Wilson played on the 2006 championship team with her sister and assistant coach Caitlin Wilson. Caitlin also played on the 2007 and 2008 teams with the team’s other assistant coach, Tayla Bourque.

● Nute had a much tougher road to the championship this year, going through Moultonborough and Inter-Lakes to get to Winnisquam. Last year they beat Hillsboro-Deering and Campbell, higher seeds with softer schedules, and it did not serve them well in the final vs. Winnisquam.

The Bears did have the tough road in 2012 with Moultonborough and Farmington, but it softened considerably this year with Newfound and Sunapee, the No. 2 seed with the paper-thin schedule.

A power rating would likely rate the top four teams in D-III in the following order: Nute, Winnisquam, Inter-Lakes and Moultonborough.

Nute also benefitted from a round-robin scrimmage in Northwood the Monday before the tournament began with Division I top seed Dover, coached by Nute grad Colleen Harte, and host Coe-Brown, the No. 1 D-II team.