LaBier, Liang Earn Athlete of the Week Recognition
This week's iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Athletes of the Week helped their respective teams roll into the final week of the regular season on a high note.
The McCann Tech boys soccer team went through its first six games without a loss, but it then hit a rough patch, going 2-2-1 over a period when the squad also was dealing with some cancellations due to players being medically unavailable.
The Hornets' most consistent scorer helped the squad pull out of that tailspin on Wednesday as junior Ivan Liang set up both goals in a 2-1 road win under the lights at Gateway Regional, a team that tied McCann Tech back on Sept. 20.
Two days later, Liang scored goals in a 2-1 win at Springfield Commerce.
Liang this season has 14 of McCann Tech's 37 goals and four assists, which is second on the team.
The Hornets Tuesday have a chance to avenge one of their two losses when they go to Pittsfield to take on Taconic.
The Wahconah volleyball team was a solid 7-3 after dropping its second game of the season to Turners Falls back on Oct. 4.
Since then, it has won five straight, including four over the past week, to pull itself into contention for a state tournament berth.
On Friday and Saturday, Wahconah worked overtime, coming from two sets down to earn a five-set win at Athol and taking another five-setter 24 hours later against Lenox, a match that saw the teams play one set to 32 points.
Junior captain McKenzie LaBier was a key contributor as a sophomore on May's Berkshire North title squad, and she has picked up where she left off this fall.
She started the week at Greenfield with six kills and four blocks in a four-set win. A few days later, she had a team-high 13 kills at Athol.
Wahconah has three matches this week, starting Monday at home against Pioneer, before taking aim at the Western Massachusetts Class B tournament.
The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.