Strong Serves Help Mount Greylock Pull Away from East Longmeadow
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Fresh off runs to the Western Massachusetts tournament final and the state tournament final four, the Mount Greylock volleyball team is picking up where it left off in 2022.
Charlotte Coody had seven kills and six assists to go with four aces Monday as the Mounties knocked off East Longmeadow, 25-17, 25-6, 25-8 to improve to 4-0 with a quartet of three-set sweeps this fall.
"I think there are really awesome parts of last year that have carried into this year," senior co-captain Lainey Gill said after Monday's win. "The really awesome dynamic is one of them. Obviously, we miss our seniors from last year, but we're doing really great and bonding as a team."
Gill, a libero, had six digs to go with four aces.
Talia Kapiloff recorded sven aces and a pair of blocks, and Kylie Sweren passed out a team-high 14 assists.
One area where the Mounties dominated on Monday was at the net, where its blockers prevented the Spartans from getting any offense going.
"A lot of touches, a lot of misdirections," Mount Greylock coach Greg Geyer said. "I think Jackie Brannan did a great job. Talia did a great job on the blocks.
"Jackie and Talia really helped shut down their offense."
Mount Greylock got its offense going late in the first set when it pulled away with a couple of small service runs from Sweren and Gill.
Sweren served a pair of points, including an ace, tog et the score to 20-13. A couple of sideouts later, Gill served two more aces to set up set point at 24-15.
The Spartans staved off two set points before a service error ended the first frame.
Coody took control of the second set right off the bat, going on an eight-point service run to give the Mounties a lead they never lost.
East Longmeadow won just one point on its serve in the set. Meanwhile, the Mounties got five-point runs from Celina Savage and Kapiloff to put the set out of reach.
In the third, it was more of the same -- a seven-point Sweren run to get to 15-3 and a six-point run on Julia DeChaine's serve to get to 22-4.
"We served better in the second set," Geyer said. "We attacked better in the second set. And I think to some degree we got a lot of momentum and never lost it. They're a good team, and they showed it in the first set.
"Second set, we kind of really got momentum, and they had to listen to our crowd. That all worked really well. We were more consistent."
Geyer said overall he is happy with how the team has played in the early going.
"We had to make changes to the lineups for different reasons -- people getting sick, little nagging injuries here and there," he said. "We haven't been fully healthy since the second match, and we have some big matches coming up."
That starts Friday night when Wahconah comes to town.
"Wahconah looks awesome," Geyer said. "They look really good. And then we drive [Saturday] morning to Springfield."
Video: Mount Greylock’s Lainey Gill talks about what allowed the Mounties to pull away in dominant sweep of East Longmeadow on Monday.
Video: Charlotte Coody gets the kill for Mount Greylock in Monday’s sweep of East Longmeadow.
Video: Jackie Brannan and Charlotte Coody team up for a block in Mount Greylock’s win on Monday.
Video: Kylie Sweren serves an ace for Mount Greylock in Monday’s sweep of East Longmeadow.