SHILOH – North Dorchester High School’s (1A) enrollment might be small, but the Eagles’ volleyball team sure plays big. The girls successfully defended their home court on Oct. 11, as the junior varsity and varsity squads both beat their 3A opponents Parkside.

Under the leadership of Head Coach Carol Hubbard and Assistant Coach Terri Wright, the varsity girls won their match 3-2, in a contest that had fans of both teams raising the roof in the fifth game. Coach Bill Jackson guided the Eagles’ JV team to a 2-1 victory.

“It’s huge to get that win,” a smiling Coach Hubbard said after the varsity girls’ fifth game clinched the victory and advanced their record to 7-3.

Tension mounted in the gym as Parkside won the fourth game of the best-of-five contest. While Eagles fans cheered, Parkside had their own fans and JV players making plenty of noise as the deciding game got underway.

But maybe that backfired a bit, as the Eagles kept their cool under pressure. “We kind of fed off their crowd,” Coach Hubbard said. “We needed to bring our A-game tonight.”

Georgie Turner and Karlie Allen, both seniors, helped lead the team to their win.

“Georgie has been one of our varsity players for four years,” Coach Hubbard said. And as for Karlie, who nailed a couple of aces late in the fifth game, the coach said, “Karlie’s been a strong server for a couple years now.”

The Eagles’ next volleyball match will be at Kent County High School on Monday, varsity at 5:30 p.m.