Butler Propels Pittsfield to Three-Set Win over Taconic
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Butler won four points on her serve late in the first set to start the Generals en route to a 25-15, 25-20, 25-18 win.
“She had a few aces in a row, and that kind of puts the other team on their heels a little bit,” Pittsfield coach Brian Lawton said. “That was the big difference there. Up to that point, it was a really tight game.”
It was 15-14 when Pittsfield gave up the serve in a back-and-forth first set.
Taconic gave the serve right back on a service error, and three aces later, Butler had given her team a 19-14 lead.
After a Taconic timeout, the Generals pushed the lead to six points before relinquishing the serve.
A kill by Alexi Sondrini got the serve back to Hannah Wheeler at 21-15, and she served out the set, getting a couple more kills by Sondrini, who finished with a team-high 10 kills and four digs.
“She was finding the holes all night long,” Lawton said of Sondini. “That’s kind of her strength. She doesn’t hit the ball hard, but she’s got really good placement. She’s a very consistent hitter. She almost never hits the ball out.
“She gets some ridiculous hits that I don’t know how she does it. She had a great game tonight, really good control.”
Butler was right behind Sondrini on the stat sheet with eight kills to go with five aces. Emma King had four kills, Wheeler had 10 digs and Adam Quinto had 10 assists for the Generals.
Taconic rallied in the second set, tying Pittsfield as late as 16-16 on an ace by Kacie Yerrick.
But the same combination came up big for the Generals to give them a working margin.
Sondrini notched a kill to get to 18-16, and Butler’s ace made it a three-point margin.
Four rotations later, a tip at the net by Quinto gave the Generals match point at 24-19. And a Taconic service error sealed its fate moments later.
Taconic coach Jennifer Doerle was encouraged with the way her team responded in the second set after running into a buzzsaw at the end of the first.
“We came back in the second,” Doerle said. “I’m very proud of them. They played strong, right through to the end. A few miscommunications, which happens, but we were right there with them.
“We were making the sets and making the attacks. Just, unfortunately, we couldn’t put it away.”
Sara Curry had 20 digs for TaconicVictoria Tynan had seven assists and a kill. Ava Sinopoli recorded four kills and an ace, and Kacie Chadwell had five kills.
Pittsfield took control of the third set on a couple of short service runs, each divided among a pair servers.
First, Butler served two points before being replaced by Arnell Kouao, who got an ace to help push the lead to 10-6.
Later, Quinto served a point before stepping off the court for Autumn Rodgers, who also served up an ace and got the lead to 16-8.
It was 23-13 before Taconic’s Jenyka Ostellino served five straight points to keep her team in the match. But Leighanna Williamson’s block gave the Generals a sideout, and Taconic failed to return Kouao’s serve on match point.
Taconic will look to get back in the win column on Friday when it hosts Mount Anthony.
Pittsfield (7-4) looks ahead to a rematch at Lee on Friday.
“Our season’s going well,” Lawton said. “We just need to clean up our ball control a little bit. I think we’re hitting well. Our setters are doing a great job. We’re serving really well, consistently. We’re up over 90 percent most of the matches we play.
“So I feel good about all aspects of our game. It’s just, here or there, we get a free ball and we pass the ball to the 10-foot line. We don’t push the ball up to the front. We just need to do a lot of those little things during the match. You look at the Greylock match -- we had all five games were two points. One or two little things here or there, that’s what makes the difference.
“Overall, we’re doing really well.”