LaBier, Castro Earn Athlete of the Week on Unbeaten Teams

As we hit the midway point of the regular season, our iBerkshires.com Athletes of the Week have their teams among the last unbeaten squads in the county after productive weeks on the personal and team level.

 

Berkshire County volleyball is having a moment this fall. The resurgent Taconic program has roared to a 6-1 start. Lee and Mount Greylock also have just one loss as we approach the end of September.

 

And Wahconah, which won a five-set thriller in Williamstown on Friday night, stands at the head of the class with a record of 8-0 heading into Monday's rematch at Mohawk Trail.

 

Senior McKenzie LaBier has been right in the middle of things for Wahconah all season, and this week, she racked up six kills in a four-set win at Greenfield, seven kills in a sweep at Athol and four aces and three kills, including a pair of aces in the deciding set at Mount Greylock.

 

LaBier said she was confident going into the fifth set despite the Mounties' 25-13 win in set No. 4.

 

"I think after winning two sets, we knew we could do it and pull it off," she said. "What I told the team was basically, 'Let's just play hard, play our game, stay together. Because we play pretty good when we're together.'

 

"Keeping our energy up, celebrating every point like we did really helped us."

 

Taconic coach Luke Chambers has a lot of confidence in Reynaldo Castro, calling him one of the best technical players in the Thunder's league.

 

This week, Castro scored more goals -- 11 -- than some teams have scored all season. And with two games left in the month of September, Castro has more goals -- 16 -- than some teams will score all year.

 

He also is a strong playmaker, racking up four assists to go with his hat trick in Taconic's Friday win over McCann Tech.

 

Castro leads Taconic (6-0-1) in goals and assists (eight) heading into Monday's game against Gateway.