It’s amazing what a week can do for team’s confidence.
Frontier Regional entered the Western Massachusetts Girls Volleyball Tournament with a 7-13 record, virtually no postseason experience and plenty of questions as it attempted to defend its title.
Fast forward to Saturday, and the Red Hawks answered the biggest question facing them when they knocked off top-seeded Lee in five sets to win the program’s 12th consecutive sectional crown at the Holyoke Community College’s David M. Bartley Center.
They get to return to the Bartley Center on Wednesday when they face Millbury in the state Division 3 semifinals at 5 p.m.
“We’re definitely looking forward to playing at HCC again,” said Frontier coach Sean MacDonald. “It’s a place we know very well. It’s just nice that we don’t have go to a gym 100 miles away on a school night.”
The Red Hawks (11-13) take on a relative newcomer in the Woolies (20-4), who are coached by Michael McKean and are in the state semifinals for the first time since 2012. Millbury has amassed a 78-35 record in the past five seasons.
The Woolies present an array of issues for Frontier, most notably from the service line where they average 12.6 aces per match.
They possess a solid frontcourt and a quality setter in senior Cassandra Stockhouse, who quarterbacks Millbury’s 5-1 offense.
Stockhouse will primarily set up junior outside hitters Shai Anna Leao and Samantha Brady.
Millbury also has two quality middle hitters in junior Madison Plante and senior Ariel Dubey, and an up-and-coming opposite hitter in freshman Morgan Cronan.
Their top defenders are senior libero Megan Lawson and senior defensive specialist Samantha Callejo.
Millbury has only been taken to five sets twice this season, and has only gone beyond three sets on six other occasions.
After watching film on the Woolies, MacDonald knows they’re going to be a tough team to beat regardless of how many sets it goes.
“They’re a pretty good team and do some things like us in a lot of ways,” he said. “Their two outside hitters are good, they hit hard and they attack the gaps in the defense, especially the gaps in between the blockers. They’re gonna make you move to block and dig them.”
The Red Hawks will answer with a senior-less squad that’s been playing more like one in the postseason.
Captains Selayna Bathurst, Ella Deane and Grace Randall have led by example on and off the court for the Red Hawks, who are looking to advance to a seventh consecutive state final.
MacDonald also continues to get plenty of contributions from Lauren Davenport, Hailey Orloski, libero Bri Thurber, Sarah Zoly, Penelope Hosley, Ashley Telega and Olivia Deane.
Frontier’s ascension from inexperienced playoff team to sectional champion didn’t happen by accident — the Red Hawks played all but two matches against Division 2 competition, facing some of the best teams in the state. (Frontier lost twice to undefeated WMass Division 2 champion Amherst Regional.)
What makes this run even more impressive, according to MacDonald, is that his squad stayed together and kept its composure despite a 1-9 stretch that might have caused most teams to give up.
However, once they knocked off Division 2 sectional finalist Minnechaug and swept Southwick in the season finale to qualify for postseason, everything started to come together.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a team that’s made this much progress is such a short amount of time,” said MacDonald. “I have to give credit to the kids. It can be really demoralizing when you’re losing that much, but they had a forward thinking mindset and that really helped.”