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North Reading defeats Wilmington 3-0 (Oct. 6)
Published October 2, 2025
Volleyball team earns huge, 3-2 win over rival Lynnfield
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
NORTH READING — On Monday afternoon, the North Reading High volleyball team beat Triton, 3-0, at home. With that win, the Hornets improved to 10-1 overall and 9-1 in the Cape Ann League.
The Hornets won the three sets, 25-8, 25-5, 25-12.
“They are in rebuilding mode this year,” said Hornets head coach Mike Milone, about the Vikings. “They were decent last year but lost a lot of seniors.”
Willow Koepke had 13 service aces and 14 assists while senior co-captain, Sydney Scholz had 11 aces and five kills.
Libero, Emery Cordero had nine digs.
Last Friday afternoon in a marathon match, the Hornets edged guest Lynnfield, 3-2, also at home. This was the first win over the Pioneers in years for the Hornets.
“It was a fantastic battle that could have went either way,” said Milone. “We were able to grit through this one.”
The Hornets won set one, 25-23, but lost the second set, 25-18. North Reading won set three, 25-18, but the Pioneers won set four, 27-25.
In the final set, the Hornets won, 15-6.
Senior, Ella Maier had 14 kills and six service aces. Scholz, meanwhile, had 12 kills while Ella Yeakel had a season-high nine kills.
“Ella had a great match,” stated Milone.
It was also a memorable match for Koepke who had a season-high in digs (24) and assists (37). She also reached the 500 assist mark early in the match and the game was stopped for a couple of minutes so she could be honored for that milestone.
“We had a good crowd that match,” said Milone, who really enjoyed the playoff-type atmosphere against their rivals.
On Sept. 24, the Hornets suffered their first loss of the season as they were edged 3-2, by visiting Newburyport in another very long match.
The Clippers, who got a split of the season series, won the first set, 25-17. The Hornets won set two, 26-24, but lost set three, by that same 26-24 score.
North Reading won set four, 25-22, but the Clippers won the final set, 15-11.
“That was a great volleyball match with a lot of long rallies,” said Milone. “They were able to set the ball to their top hitter more often than the first time we played against them.”
Maier and Lucy Wells each had four aces. Maier also led the team in kills with 15. Scholz had 11 while Wells had 10.
Koepke had 35 assists while Maier also led the team in digs with 26.
On Oct. 6, the Hornets play a non-league match at Wilmington at 5:30 p.m. This is the team’s second non-league game of the year.
They then have their Dig Pink game on Oct. 8 against Essex Tech where they will be trying to raise money in the fight against cancer. That match will be at 5:30 p.m.
The first MIAA power rankings came out last Friday and the Hornets are ranked 6th in Div. 3. The top 32 teams automatically qualify for the state tournament.