EASTHAMPTON — Heading into the fourth set of its Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament first-round match, the Easthampton girls volleyball team just couldn’t seem to click after a week off.
The Eagles were leading Athol, but playing what coach Molly Jacobson later described as their worst volleyball of the season.
Enter Charlotte Banigan-White.
Jacobson substituted Banigan-White into the match then watched the junior take over. Banigan-White had two aces in a five-serve streak that put the Eagles into a commanding lead and forced Athol to call timeout.
Fifth-seeded Easthampton never relinquished that lead and won the match 3-1 (25-16, 25-11, 18-25, 25-17) to advance to the quarterfinal round.
The Eagles (14-3) will visit No. 4 Turners Falls (18-3), Monday at 6:30 p.m.
Banigan-White “came through big for us,” Jacobson said. “We were struggling with our serving consistency. She made serves and just swung away at the ball and got a couple kills for herself. That spark, her energy, and her drive to win was exactly what we needed.”
The Eagles began the first set by springing into a 6-1 lead as Lisa Sikop (three aces, eight digs) painted the corners with serves. But Athol (10-11) kept reining them back in with long rallies that forced errors. The Eagles called timeout with the set tied 14-14.
“We haven’t played since last Thursday. We’ve been practicing but sometimes when you’re off for that long it can be a little detrimental,” Jacobson said. “And many of them hadn’t played in a tournament game before so maybe their nerves got the best of them.”
After regrouping, Easthampton pulled away to take the set 25-16 as Sierra Raskevitz hit two thunderous shots from the outside left for points.
In the second set, Athol pressed early but again faded. Easthampton’s Samantha Sypek was all over the court on her way to 13 digs, and Autumn Pinard tallied 35 assists on the night. Raskevitz served three aces in a row midway through the set to power the Eagles to a 25-11 win and 2-0 lead.
The Red Raiders claimed the third set 25-18 as they forced the Eagles to call multiple timeouts. Hannah Lajoie served two aces for Athol as they took advantage of the Eagles’ rustiness.
But in the fourth and final set it was all Banigan-White and the Eagles. After Banigan-White’s serving streak, Devney Horne smashed two of her nine kills back to back then leapt at the net for a block on the next point. The Eagles won the set 25-17.
Easthampton lost 3-1 to Turners to open the season.
“We have similar firepower, similar defenses, our strengths are pretty equal,” Jacobson said. “I feel confident about it, however. We gotta do what we need to do on our side of the net, we can’t concentrate too much on what’s happening on the other side.”