Unbeaten Mounties Roll over West Springfield
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – It has been a month since the Mount Greylock volleyball team has lost a set in a varsity match.
But the season has not been without its challenges, Mounties coach Greg Geyer said after Wednesday’s three-set win over West Springfield.
“We’ve played some really good teams that we just squeaked out three sets,” Geyer said. “Lee was up on us something like 23-22. [West Side was] up on us, 22-20. So we’re getting those opportunities to kind of come back.”
Wednesday was not one of them.
Celina Savage delivered 17 kills to lead the Mounties to a 25-10, 25-18, 25-9 win over the Terriers as the top-ranked team in the state in Division 5 improved to 14-0.
The only time the Mounties have had to play a fourth set this fall came on Sept. 11, when they prevailed in five sets against Longmeadow, currently ranked second in Division 2 in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s in-season power rankings.
On Wednesday, the Terriers won just one point on their serve in the first set as Mount Greylock steadily built its lead.
The second set was more competitive. After the Mounties’ Kylie Sweren (six aces, 24 assists) served four points to build a 9-1 lead early, West Side got a three-point run from Angelina Redka that was capped by a Hannah Debian kill to get within five points at 11-6.
Later in the set, Jenna Lopez served a four-point run that got the visitors within four points at 17-13.
But Kelsey MacHaffie (five aces, three kills) settled things down for Mount Greylock with a three-point run to get to 21-13. Two rotation’s later, Sweren’s ace got the Mounties to set point at 24-14, and Savage eventually ended the set with a kill for a 25-18 win.
“Honestly, Celina is one of the best in the state,” Geyer said of the senior hitter who is closing in on 200 kills for the season. “She should be all-state.”
Julia DeChaine (five kills, three aces) started the third set with a five-point run, and Mount Greylock never looked back. Jacqueline Brannan (four kills, two aces) erased all doubt when she took the ball with her team ahead, 19-8, and served five straight points – the last two on aces – to set up match point.
Although Mount Greylock (14-0) has won 31 sets in a row in matches that count toward its official record, Geyer put his team to the test over the holiday weekend with a trip to Holyoke for the Hall of Fame Classic. There, Mount Greylock faced a top Division 2 team and a strong squad from Connecticut among others.
“We got to see big middles, big blockers, big hitters, teams with girls that are in the neighborhood of Celina,” Geyer said. “And we adjusted.
“We started off, and we were swinging and we hit into blocks. Then, we adjusted, saw the block and went around the block. So that really helped us a lot – tough serving from those teams, multiple attackers, everything.”
And Geyer is not looking past anyone on the remainder of Mount Greylock’s regular season, which continues Friday at Agawam and wraps up next week at home against Ludlow and at Wahconah (currently No. 5 in Division 5).
“Agawam is looking really good,” he said. “I think they just beat Lee. … And Wahconah has only had one loss [at Mount Greylock on Labor Day].
“We’ve got some really tough opponents ahead in the playoffs, too.”