Lee Volleyball Team Evens Season Series With Mount Greylock

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Down a set and clinging to a dwindling 24-20 lead in the fourth, the Lee volleyball team needed to refocus on Monday at Mount Greylock.

 

“We really just talked about how we needed to pick up the energy and strategize, really pull through and have fun while we’re doing it,” Lee captain Shenna Tyer said. “Going through our heads, we were just thinking about going to the next set and winning that set. So it really helped when coach took us to a timeout and talked to us about giving 100 percent and playing a good match.”

 

Tyer registered a kill on the first point after the timeout to stop a four-point run for the Mounties and send the Wildcats on to a 25-17, 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11 victory in the Mountie Dome.

 

Lee improved to 7-1 this season and avenged its only loss, a four-set decision to Mount Greylock in South County in the season opener.

 

Tyer finished with 10 kills, two blocks and six assists, and Kendra Williams recorded 36 assist to go with six kills and five digs to lead Lee.

 

Wildcats coach Josh Warner was quick to identify the libero Anna Wang as one of the keys to overcoming Mount Greylock’s strength on the front line.

 

“Phenomenal passing game from her,” Warner said. “She had 18 digs tonight. She just was incredible. She is the reason we’re successful as we are. She just brings the ball back all the time.

 

“She’s a terrific defensive player. She’s one of the fastest player afoot I’ve ever been able to coach. And she’s a good kid, too.”

 

Thanks in part to Wang’s performance in the back, Warner said Lee was able to “somewhat neutralize” Mount Greylock’s Jenna Benzinger, who registered 17 kills and five blocks.

 

Dagny Albano had 24 assists, and Marley Buffis notched 14 digs for the Mounties (5-2).

 

Lee grabbed the early lead when Wang served up six straight points late in the first set to get the Wildcats to set point at 24-15. Haleigh Richardson had a couple of kills in that run, which started with Lee ahead, 18-14.

 

The second set was a back-and-forth affair with neither side winning more than four points at a stretch.

 

Mount Greylock took the lead for good on a Benzinger kill to make it 13-12, and it built a margin when Benzinger won three straight points on serve to get to 18-13. Lee regained the serve and cut the lead to one before a Serena Chow kill got the serve back to the Mounties at 19-17. The Wildcats never got closer than two points the rest of the way.

 

The third set was even tighter. Neither side was able to pull ahead by more than two points. Taylor Hoffstedt’s kill gave Mount Greylock a set point at 24-22, and two points later the Mounties closed the set to take a 2-1 lead.

 

The Mounties took a 13-9 lead in the fourth when Maddie Albert erased an 8-5 deficit with eight straight serves.

 

But Lee used a couple of mini runs to tie it and then took the lead on Richardson’s serve: eight straight points to get the Wildcats to set point at 24-16.

 

But the Mounties made a run on Carly Munzer’s serve, getting to within 24-20 before Tyer’s kill sent the match to a fifth set.

 

In that deciding set, the Wildcats built a five-point lead on Wang’s serve, but the Mounties closed to within a point, 11-10, on Dagny Albano’s ace, the third of three straight points for her after taking the ball with an 11-7 deficit.

 

Lee ended up winning the last three points of the match, closing it out with two points on Ahna Schlaefer’s serve.