SOUTH HADLEY — With match point in hand, the South Hadley girls volleyball team waited for Ware’s Lexie Orszulak to serve.
She tossed the ball into the air, stepped forward and made contact with the ball. It soared for a moment but fell short and hit the net, scoring the clinching point for South Hadley. The Tigers bench rushed onto the court as the gym erupted in cheers. The team celebrated their second straight trip to the Western Massachusetts Division 3 quarterfinals with a 3-1 win Thursday. The No. 7 Tigers will play second-seeded Lee at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Lee.
“It feels good,” South Hadley coach Corey Koske said, “It’s only my second career playoff win as a coach. Hopefully we have a little momentum going forward.”
Aislinn Ford, not a regular starter for the Tigers (15-7), played a large portion of the match. She led the team with 15 kills in the 25-15, 25-18, 24-26, 25-18 win.
“It’s unbelievable,” South Hadley’s Aislinn Ford said, “I have been sitting on the bench for varsity for three years, and I just like to watch people. The fact that I get to play is crazy.”
Brooke Connor led the team with 18 assists and nine aces. Connor also had one kill and one dig. Kayla Simon added five blocks and 14 kills.
In their second time facing Ware this season, the Tigers achieved the same result.
“We knew how they played, kind of remembered some of their players,” Ford said, “We kind of tried to remember that and then map ourselves out on our side, it helped.”
South Hadley carried the momentum of the match for the first two sets with the help of their crowd.
“We had a good crowd,” Ford said, “Energy was really high and we just had to match it with our playing.”
The Tigers dominated early against the Indians (13-8) with Simon and Ford alternating in the middle of the court. Simon made four of her five blocks in the first two sets, and Ford had eight of her 15 kills in the first two sets.
However, the Tigers battled during the third and fourth sets. They dropped the third set 24-26, but regained their stride in the fourth set and won 25-18.
“I think we got too comfortable,” Ford said, “I think the next one we remembered the third set and we all agreed that we wanted to just finish it and end with a bang. That’s what we tried to do.”