Lee Girls Fall to Top-Seed Frontier in Final
HOLYOKE, Mass. — The No. 2-seeded Lee Wildcats volleyball team gave the No. 1-ranked, 10-time Western Massachusetts champion Frontier a run for its money Saturday afternoon in the Division 3 Western Massachusetts Final.
With high expectations and a lot on the line for Frontier, Lee was able to contend with the best. But the defending champions added another to their list, making it 11 in a row with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-20) sweep over the Wildcats.
"We knew that we were the two seed going in, we had nothing to lose, they had everything to prove," Lee head coach John Warner said. "It rattled them a little bit when we first started out, I'm proud of the way the girls played. They far exceeded my expectation of the seeding and really held up to the seed they were given."
The Wildcats held their own in the first and third sets. After tying at 11 in the first, set Lee scored three points straight (14-11) forcing Frontier coach Sean MacDonald to call timeout; from there they went on a 4-0 run, but Lee turned around and tied it again at 15. The Wildcats led once more in the set with a dig from Anna Wong and a Courtney Picard kill giving them the 17-15 edge, but Frontier was able to pull away after Lee came within one (22-21), closing the set with an Emily Woodward ace to take a 1-0 lead.
Frontier regained composure entering the second set taking an early lead. Lee called a timeout after trailing 9-5; after the timeout the Wildcats added one more point to Frontier's two (11-6) before the favorites went on a 9-3 run. Remi Quesnelle recorded five aces to seal the second set.
"They bring it at you from all directions; it's a well-oiled machine offensively," Warner said. "We initially came out with the strategy to serve really strong and nobody was allowed to tip, they had to swing away on our side and that was out intent. We played with them in the first game and we had them the third game, but all and all they're just a phenomenal team."
After gaining a 2-0 lead on Lee, Frontier came out in the third set looking to close the game out. After leading 15-13 the Wildcats the Wildcats tied it at 15 with two straight aces from Haleigh Richardson. From there, two Frontier errors tied it again at 17.
Frontier then brought the score to 19-17, forcing a Wildcat timeout; Lee added only three more points before a kill from Quesnelle put Frontier one point away from clinching the title.
Frontier ended it and claimed its 11th title on a kill from senior captian Katherine Conlisk, who finished with five for the game.
"In my four years of playing this was our first time playing them in tournament and this was the first time we actually competed with them," Lee senior Courtney Picard said. "During the regular season we played them and took one set, but today we really competed and we played great I couldn't be more proud of my team."