Mount Greylock Rallies for Five-Set Win to Reach Final Four
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Down two sets to zero in Friday’s State Quarter-Final, the Mount Greylock volleyball team climbed back into the match.
Down by two points in the fifth set, the Mounties dug deep once again and prevailed with a 22-25, 27-29, 25-18, 25-16, 15-13 win over Turners Falls.
“We needed our energy up,” Mount Greylock senior captain Takiera Darrow said of the team’s mood going to the third set. “It wasn’t like we were down on ourselves. We just seemed really tired and out of it.
“Once we were able to bring each other up and get really excited … Bringing each other up definitely helps. It’s what we did at Blackstone-Millville. When we’re able to do that, we’re able to play like we know how.”
Now the 14th-seeded Mounties get to take their never-say-die act to the Final Four, where they will run into perennial Western Mass powerhouse Frontier on Tuesday at Chicopee Comprehensive. Third-seeded Frontier Thursday won its third straight 3-0 match in the tournament.
“I’m just proud of the kids,” Mount Greylock coach Greg Geyer said. “I’m happy for them. These kids have been through so much with the pandemic. And they come back to school this fall, and they have a full load. The juniors and the seniors are just so overwhelmed.
“And they’re going on these two-hour bus trips with the windows open [in the tournament]. I just want them to be able to enjoy every moment they get.”
Darrow and Celina Savage each recorded 15 kills, and Savage had seven aces and seven blocks to lead the way on the stat sheet.
But it took contributions throughout the lineup for the Mounties to earn their second post-season win of the year against the Thunder.
Charlotte Coody had four aces, Jackie Brannan had seven kills, and Julia DeChaine and Kylie Sweren had three kills and three aces respectively.
“Julia was really, really successful,” Geyer said. “You go from, ‘Get it to one of our big hitters,’ to, ‘Get it to any of our hitters,’ because they’re all getting very, very successful. And Kylie had to step in because Emma [Sandstrom was unavailable for medical reasons]. And she did a great job, too. She’s a freshman, and Julia’s sophomore. That’s a big deal.
“I do think Takiera had a monster game. But those guys and Jackie [Brannan] -- Jackie was like unstoppable. Jackie and Julia, I’m trying to remember when they had a hit that came back. They really, really played great. They really did make the difference there. That’s why it’s a team.”
No. 22 Turners Falls took control of the first set with a three-point run on Stephanie Peterson’s serve to take a 20-15 lead.
Sweren got a couple of poin ts back to get within 20-18, but the Thunder maintained its lead and closed out the set.
The second was a back-and-forth affair that needed extra points to decide it.
At one point, Turners went on top 12-9 on Taylor Greene’s serve, but Mount Greylock answered with six straight points from Savage to go ahead, 17-13.
Thunder senior Emily Young served a couple to get Turners back to within one at 18-17, and neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way. It was 27-27 when the serve came back to Greene, and she served out the set to get her team within one set of the semis.
A ace by Savage and a kill by Darrow got Mount Greylock a 5-3 lead early in the third, and the Mounties never looked back, staying in front the rest of the way.
They got some breathing room late with a four-point run on Lainey Gill’s serve. Savage capped that run with a kill to earn set point at 24-16.
In the fourth set, Turners Falls fell behind early but went on top, 7-6, on a kill by Young. After a sideout to get the serve to Savage, she served three straight to give the Mounties a 10-7 lead they never relinquished. She served three more in a row late in the set, benefitting from a Brannan tip, to get the lead to 22-15.
Darrow’s push put away set point moments later to even the match, 2-2.
The Mounties rode that momentum to a 9-3 lead in the first-to-15 fifth set. DeChaine served five straight points, using two aces and a pair of blocks by Savage to take control of the set.
But Turners wrested control back with three straight points on Jill Reynolds’ serve to get within two at 9-7, and one rotation later, Young served four straight to give the Thunder a 12-10 lead.
Brannan got the serve back with an off-speed hit at 12-11 and put away another point moments later to give the Mounties a 13-12 lead. But a service error gave Turners Falls a sideout with a tie score, 13-13.
Darrow got the serve back with a kill and then went to the line and delivered a serve the Thunder could not return, giving Mount Greylock the win.
Afterward, she said the Mounties needed to find a way to encourage one another when things started to go south in the fifth set.
“A lot of times, it’s just being able to compliment each other,” she said. “I know that when I make a mistake, I go and focus on someone else’s good play, and that’s able to pull me up because I’m not focusing on myself anymore. We’ve all started to do that, and once we can do that, we just don’t focus on the end result of the game. It’s easy to just play each point one by one.”
Chemistry has been key in getting the Mounties within two wins of a state title.
“In August, we really had no idea we’d make it to this point,” Darrow said. “We were confident in each other, but as the season went on, our chemistry grew, we got closer. And we keep improving with every practice. I would say at the beginning, we didn’t really know, but now we’re confident in ourselves and the team as a whole.”
Video: Takiera Darrow puts away one of her 15 kills in Friday’s State Quarter-Final win for Mount Greylock.
Video: Celina Savage gets a kill for Mount Greylock In Friday’s State Quarter-Final win.
Video: Mount Greylock’s Takiera Darrow gets a kill to earn match point and then serves out the Mounties’ five-set D5 State Quarter-Final win on Friday against Turners Falls.
Video: END4: Turners can’t return Kylie Sweren’s serve and Greylock comes back to tie match, 2-2.
Video: END3 Celina Savage puts away set point to keep Mount Greylock in the match, 2-1.