TURNERS FALLS — The Easthampton girls volleyball team lost momentum in the fourth set to Turners Falls.
The fifth-seeded Indians had trailed twice, but overcame both deficits to hold off No. 5 Easthampton, 3-2, in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament quarterfinals.
The match turned over the final two sets, when Turners Falls took advantage of serving errors to win 19-25, 26-24, 15-25, 25-13, 15-8.
“We left it all out there,” Eagles coach Molly Jacobson said. “They played their hardest. What it came down to is our inexperience playing tournament games. We had some mental lapses when we were down and couldn’t dig ourselves out.”
Turners (19-3) will play top-seeded Frontier Regional (13-8) Wednesday in South Deerfield at 6:30 p.m. for a spot in the championship.
“We fell behind and I told the girls, ‘This is do or die time,’” Turners coach Kelly Liimatainen said. “This is it. This is the end of the road if we don’t get a win. I’m very proud of the girls for pulling it out.”
The Eagles finished 14-4 in their turnaround season. A year ago, Easthampton finished 3-13 and in last place in the Southern League. This season, they won the league title.
“You can’t ask for a harder working team, to make those big of improvements,” Jacobson said.
Easthampton was in control after blitzing Turners in the third set, 25-15, to take a 2-1 lead. The Eagles road the serving of senior libero Samantha Sypek (24 digs) and the offense of junior middle hitter Devney Horne (12 kills, two aces) to move within one game of a spot in the semifinals.
“We didn’t have enough energy early on,” Turners sophomore middle hitter Dabney Rollins said.
Needing a boost, Turners received a strong performance off the bench from junior outside hitter Sarah Waldron in the fourth and fifth sets. Rollins saved her best play of the night for the stretch run, as the Indians took a 13-3 lead in the fourth after she put down a kill.
The lead grew from there, and late kills from Abby Loynd and Sienna Dillensneider enabled Turners to capture a 25-13 win and force a winner-take-all final frame.
“We just needed to relax,” said Dillensneider.
Turners fell into an early hole in the fifth. The Eagles jumped out to a 4-1 lead on a Lisa Sikop ace, and the home crowd grew a bit weary in the race to 15.
But Chloe Ellis got things on track with a service run, as she helped Turners rattle off five straight points to take a 6-4 lead.
Rollins wound up with three kills and a block in the fifth frame, and another big service run from Waldron had the hosts up 12-5.
Despite a late kill from Horne, Easthampton was unable to climb back. Dillensneider fed Ellis on match point, and the middle hitter put down one final kill to secure a 15-8 win.
Sypek was a steady force in the middle of the Easthampton defense, while setter Autumn Pinard (22 assists, four aces, nine digs) also played well.
Sierra Raskevitz had two kills and 15 digs, while Valeria Murphy added four kills and two blocks.
It was the final match for seven seniors: Anna Stabile, Sophia Deblase, Lilly Pinard, Heather Lloyd, Sypek, Raskevitz and Sikop.