Wahconah Outbattles Lee in Showdown
DALTON, Mass. – The Lee and Wahconah volleyball teams Friday played their last match against one another in the 2023 season.
That’s a shame for area high school volleyball fans, but it is probably just as well for the two teams.
They probably would wear one another out.
After winning a five-setter in Lee earlier this season, Wahconah emerged with a four-set win on Friday on a night when long rallies were the rule and neither side could take a point for granted.
Eva Jacinto delivered 12 kills and four aces to lead Wahconah in the 25-19, 25-14, 17-25, 25-19 victory that lived up to the billing of a clash between teams ranked second in their respective divisions in the latest statewide power rankings.
Any kill was well deserved in this one as both teams’ defenses repeatedly chased down and dug up any ball in sight.
“Lee has a very scrappy defense,” Wahconah coach Dave Lussier said. “They play hard all the time. You can never assume that a ball is down with them. And those rallies, they take a lot of patience and waiting until you can get back into system, get your sets to your spots. And Lee did a very good job of lasting out a lot of those long rallies – in their favor.
“Any time there’s a county matchup, it seems like everyone plays just a little bit harder.”
Jacinto said that the experience of playing the Wildcats in Lee on Sept. 18 helped set up Wahconah’s defense to match up in the rematch.
“At practice, we definitely practiced specifically to play this team,” she said. “We practiced different things so we could cover the spots that we messed up last time. And I think we did it pretty well, because we took away some good kills.”
Wahconah libero Sasha Fyfe had 13 digs, and her opposite number, Autumn Schwab, had 18 digs for Lee.
Olivia Mason gave Wahconah a little opening in the first set with three straight serves to get the lead to 16-13 on a kill by Jacinto.
The Wildcats got two of those points back on Shayla Santolin’s serve moments later but could not get the score back to level.
The visitors closed to within two at 20-19 on a tip at the net by Mya Andre (11 kills), but a ball handling error on the next point gave Wahconah a side out.
Jacinto then served out the set, getting an ace and a Mason kill in the four-point run.
Another run on Jacinto’s serve keyed the second set, which had the widest margin for either team.
She took the ball with Wahconah up, 8-5, and she got the lead to 12-5 before a kill from Andre gave Lee a side out.
The Wildcats could not get any traction, though, winning just one point on its serve the rest of the set as Wahconah steadily stretched its lead – finishing the set on a four-point run that ended in an ace from Olivia Cole-Carr.
Lee battled back in the third set to get back in the match.
Alexis Masten served three points early to give Lee a 5-2 lead, leading Lussier to call his first timeout of the match. Later, Schwab served four points, getting a Masten tip along the way, to push the lead to 16-8.
That is pretty much where the margin stayed the rest of way as Lee got to a fourth set and called to mind Wahconah’s comeback from a two-set deficit in the first meeting.
“Hand it to them that they came out and they played hard and they started getting into their rhythm,” Lussier said of the Wildcats. “I started fearing a repeat of what we did down at their place, that they were going to do it in reverse. We talked about that before the fourth set, and they really wanted to take care of it at home.”
Wahconah led the fourth set, 7-5, when Jacinto went to the service line. When her run ended, her team had a 14-6 lead.
Later in the set, Jacinto had a tip to give her team a commanding, 19-9 lead.
“Eva had a great hitting night,” Lussier said. “She was hitting her spots. She was moving it around so they weren’t all in the same spot. And so it was hard for [Lee’s] defense to figure out where she was going to go. She was going around the block really well.
“So, yeah, she had a very good night.”
It looked like the match was over when Carr-Cole served Wahconah to a 22-9 lead.
But Lee got a side out, and Masten delivered the longest service run of the night, nine points, including a couple of aces to get her team within three points at 22-19.
Wahconah got a side out and gave the ball to Fyfe, who served an ace to get match point and set up Jacinto for a kill to end the night.
“It felt great,” Jacinto said. “We went to Lee, we crushed them after losing two sets. Tonight, it seemed like they were going to come back and crush us after they won that third set. But we didn’t let it happen. We worked as a team, even though it got really close at the end.
“We pulled together, and we won.”
Wahconah (15-1) goes to Chicopee Comp on Tuesday.
Lee (9-5) hosts Westfield on Saturday afternoon.