Taking a look at Alvirne’s volleyball team, the girls are looking for their first playoff appearance since making a run to the quarterfinals in 2020 with a 7-5 regular season record. Since that season, the Broncos have gone 6-12 twice in 2021 and 2022 before falling back to 4-14 in 2023, their worst season since 2018-19 when Alvirne went 3-15. Alvirne’s 4-14 record put them four games back of Exeter in the final playoff spot with an 8-10 record.
Alvirne will open their regular season on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at home against the aforementioned Exeter Blue Hawks in an early season “show me” game for the Broncos. If they can hold there own and compete, that will go a long way towards giving Alvirne some momentum going into the 2024 season towards a potential playoff push. If things do not go as well as Alvirne hopes, they will have to have a short memory, as they turn around and travel to Salem High to take on the Blue Devils on Thursday 24 hours later. Salem finished last year at 11-7, which was good for the tenth seed in Division I. The Blue Devils ultimately finished eighth in Division I last year following a preliminary-round upset 3-2 over Goffstown. Two important tests for the Broncos in their first week.
The Broncos’ second week will be spent at home in its entirety as the Broncos will host Winnacunnet on Monday, Sept. 9 and Merrimack on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Winnacunnet missed the playoffs a year ago but beat Alvirne three games to none, so that will be another game the Broncos will need to give their all in. Merrimack is another team that failed to make the playoffs in 2023, but still managed to come away with a victory over Alvirne, winning 3-1 last season.
The following week will see Alvirne finish up their three-game homestand with a game against Timberlane, a team that Alvirne beat a year ago, so if all goes well, should be a win for the young Bronco squad. Alvirne will then take on Pinkerton on the road. The Astros finished seventh in Division I in 2023. To wrap up the week, last year’s third-seeded Windham Jaguars will come to town on the 20th.
Wrapping up September, the Broncos will play a pair of Monday road games on the 23rd and 30th of Sept. with their game on the 23rd being in Goffstown against the Grizzlies and their game on the 30th being at the Dover Green Wave. The Grizzlies made the playoffs and were upset in prelims by Salem last season and Dover finished third in NH after losing to the eventual champion Bedford Bulldogs in the semifinals.
Alvirne’s Oct. schedule will begin on the second when Spaulding comes to town. The Red Raiders were one of the four teams the Broncos beat last season. Alvirne will also hit the road to take on the Hollis-Brookline Cavaliers on Oct. 4. The Cavaliers are Division I’s runners-up in 2023.
Alvirne will spend the entirety of the next week on the road as they travel to Nashua South on Monday, Oct. 7 and Bedford on Thursday, Oct. 10.
