Ella Deane stacked the deck.
The Frontier Regional volleyball team’s junior setter fired 10 aces in a 3-0 (25-9, 25-15, 25-7) home win over Mohawk on Saturday in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 volleyball tournament first round.
She also had nine assists and three digs.
The No. 6 Red Hawks finished with 24 aces Saturday, almost one-third of their total points. Selayna Bathurst had five aces, and Grace Randall and Ashley Telega added three.
“Not showing up in the stat sheet was the amount of serves that didn’t qualify for an ace that got them (Mohawk) in a lot of trouble,” Frontier coach Sean MacDonald said.
Frontier (7-11) only had 18 kills in the match compared to nine errors but didn’t need to play offense much with how it performed at the service line. Lauren Davenport led the Red Hawks with seven kills, while Hailey Orloski had five digs.
“It was nice to get a playoff win, especially at home,” MacDonald said. “We weren’t sure if we were going to have another home game (after the regular season).”
Frontier, playing for its 12th straight sectional championship, is used to playing all home games in the tournament. It’ll have to win on the road to advance past the quarterfinals.
The Red Hawks play at No. 3 Athol on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
“We’ve played enough tough matches on the road all over the state. It’s 20 minutes away. We feel like at least this one it’s not too far away,” MacDonald said. “I like the direction that we’re moving, and this is a good time to do it. There’s not much season left no matter what happens.”
No. 8 Agawam 6, No. 9 Northampton 0 —Freshman Evan Renaud stopped 13 shots Saturday in his first full game action.
“When it became clear at the beginning of the week that he was gonna be our keeper, he worked like a good hour every day of hard, direct 1-on-1 keeper training. I’d say he learned half a dozen new techniques in one week through his hard work and will,” Norhtampton coach Brian Brown said. “Never once did he appear nervous. I would have been a wreck.”
Northampton (6-9-4) trailed 3-0 at the half.
The Blue Devils lost in the Division 1 Western Mass first round for the second consecutive year, reaching the playoffs in back to back seasons after not qualifying since 2012 before last season.
Seniors Nick Capers, Ian Hutchins, Jack Rockett, Salvatore Viola, Nick Dubuque and Emmett Volkmann played their final soccer game for Northampton.
“We had a good showing from our guys, it just wasn’t our night,” Brown said.