Alvarez, Albert Awarded Weekly Honors

This week's iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Health Care Athletes of the Week are proving the old maxim: Defense wins championships.

 

The Lee High football team has been dominant this fall in claiming an Intercounty South Division title.

 

The Wildcats have been particularly tough on defense, where the posted shutouts in their first three league games and have allowed just 36 points in seven outings, an average of 5.1 points per game.

 

Last week, Lee coach Tom Salinetti called senior lineman Brendan Albert the "heart and soul" of the Wildcat defense.

 

After Friday's title-clinching win over county rival Hoosac Valley, Albert had a slightly different take.

 

"This defense just has haert," Albert said. "The heart and soul of this defense is effort. We just fly around to the football. We want it more at the end of the day. We try our hardest, we put everything on the line. And whatever happens at the end of the game happens.

 

"We're just going to put everything and anything on the line."

 

Lee puts its 7-0 record on the line on Friday night in its regular season finale and Senior Night at John J. Consolati Field when Frontier pays a visit.

 

Mount Greylock senior Emily Alvarez plays libero for the Mounties, a defensive specialist role in which she has excelled, helping her team to a state championship last fall and leading it to its third straight Western Massachusetts championship on Saturday.

 

Given her position, it is no surprise that Alvarez leads Mount Greylock in digs this fall.

 

But she also is one of Mount Greylock's most potent servers.

 

Earlier this year, she recorded nine aces and, at one point, served 24 straight points in a win at home for the Mounties.

 

On Saturday, she had nine aces in a hard-fought 3-2 win over Lenox in a rematch of last year's Western Mass Class C final.

 

Against the Millionaires, Alvarez had to do things a little differently.

 

"I was worried because, at first, I got like two in the net, and I don't usually do that," she said. "That was just pressure, I think. Once I calmed down and realized I needed to serve in ... I was trying to serve in when I was acing. I wasn't trying to serve hard. I was trying to pick different places, and that's what got me the aces."

 

Mount Greylock (17-3) awaits the release of the Division 5 State Tournament seedings to learn who it will face in the first round of the state playoffs.

 

The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Health Care.