DERRY — Back on May 8, the Timberlane of Plaistow boys’ volleyball team won a back-and-forth matchup over Pinkerton’s Derry, 3-2.

Astros head coach Colin Walker made sure that didn’t happen again.

Second-seeded Pinkerton defeated No. 3 Timberlane in the Division I semifinals in three sets, 25-12, 25-12, and 25-18, to advance to the final for the first time in school history on Thursday at their home court.

“In the last four years, every time we’ve played (Timberlane), every game has been decided by two points so it was a nice win for us to go out there and take care of business like we did today,” said Walker. “We were looking forward to this one.”

The Astros will take on undefeated top-seed Salem (18-0) in Saturday’s finals matchup at Pinkerton at 6 p.m. The Blue Devils defeated Souhegan of Amherst (12-6) in three straight sets, 26-24, 25-19, and 25-15 in the second match of the night.

Senior Kyle Evans and junior Justin Scott led the way for the Astros (15-3), finishing with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Kyle Heidler had 23 assists, while Rory Cohoon and Scott each had 10 service points and two aces. Tom Graziani had 18 digs and Brad Kenney had 14.

Joseph Coye had seven kills, while juniors Tom Matatall and Michael Maguire contributed eight and seven assists, respectively, for the Owls. Maguire added 10 service points; he and Coye each had three blocks.

“We basically played flat. This game is really not that complicated. You have to pass and because we played flat we didn’t communicate and we didn’t pass, that’s it,” said Owls head coach John Dube. “When you’ve got a good team that you’re playing against that’s executing the very things that you aren’t executing, it’s pretty simple. The outcome is going to be pretty much what the outcome was.”

The loss was a disappointing for Timberlane (13-5), but the program is losing just two seniors in Coye and Adam Sullivan.

“(Timberlane) is a very good coached team and they’ve got some really good players,” said Walker, in his second year at the helm. “They’re the tightest team we see all year long. I was really worried about this one, but we’re starting to pull together at the right time.”

In match two, Souhegan nearly stole the first game away from the Blue Devils, holding a 24-22 advantage at one point.

“We played a little sloppy in the beginning,” said Salem coach John Roemer. “They had senior sleepover last night so they were sleeping all day and we came out sluggish.”

The Blue Devils finished the rest of the match strong, getting prime offensive performances from Brandon Ackroyd (13 kills), Jonathan Buatti (12 kills), Joe Dube (three aces), and Andrew Ruffen (23 assists). Jon Klecan led the defensive charge, finishing with 17 digs while Eric Denning had eight blocks.

Second-team all-state player Sean McKenna had four kills, two blocks, and two digs for the Sabers. Captains Sam Leedy (six blocks, six kills) and Dave Mazerall (four kills, two blocks, two digs) also pitched in.

“This team has come a long way in one year’s time,” said first-year Souhegan coach Kim Roberge. “Last year they didn’t make the playoffs and there were four seniors that were supposed to return this year, but right now they’re playing some good volleyball. They’ve come a long way from the first day that we started coaching them to now. We’ll be tough competition in years to come.”

For now, both winning coaches are looking forward to Saturday’s showdown.

“Pinkerton is a very strong team,” said Roemer. “We have to bring our ‘A’ game to beat them because they’re going to bring their ‘A’ game. It should be a great game..”

“Now it’s time to get geared up and look towards Salem. It’s gonna be a battle,” said Walker. “We haven’t beaten them yet so until that happens they’re the team to beat. We can’t let them play their game. If we play our game and dictate a little bit we might have a good shot at it. They’re a strong, strong program and have been for years. There’s a big tradition there and it’s going to be real tough.”

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Pat DeCola may be reached at pdecola@unionleader.com.

pdecola@unionleader.com