AMHERST — Olivia Hogans cut the cute stuff.
Amherst Regional’s senior outside hitter let loose and put down 15 kills, as the Hurricanes girls volleyball team beat Frontier Regional, 3-1, on Monday. She added seven digs and three aces in a 25-16, 21-25, 25-22, 25-14 win.
“Olivia is an outstanding player, she just needs to remember that she is and play within herself and stay confident,” Amherst coach Kacey Schmitt said. “She’s her own worst critic. I felt like as the match wore on she started to swing away with a lot more abandon.”
Hogans delivered in the key moments of the third set. The teams stayed within two points of each other and tied often, staying knotted as late as 21-21 after a Frontier service error. Hogans gave the Hurricanes some breathing room with back-to-back kills, and Amherst closed the set on a 4-1 run.
“There’s been times we’ll play big league games against teams we’ve lost to in the past, and our hitters have been tentative,” Hogans said. “This game it seemed like everyone was going all out.”
Winning the third set put the Hurricanes (7-2, 1-2 Eastern) up 2-1, and Amherst rolled through the fourth set to clinch the match. It was the Hurricanes’ first league win, clear proof they can compete in the top echelon of western Massachusetts despite losses against Longmeadow and Minnechaug.
“I told them this shows you’re a good team and you need to play like this every single match,” Schmitt said. “You have the ability, you have the teamwork, you have the confidence in each other, now have the confidence in yourselves.”
Amherst trailed 6-5 early in the first set, but took the lead back 9-8 on a Delaney MacPhetres kill. The Hurricanes outscored Frontier 16-8 the rest of the way to lock up the first set.
“The rallies we have where everyone is trying really hard to get the ball over, ones where everyone’s hitting the floor for the ball, the energy picks up,” Hogans said.
Jordan Machowski and Nicole Lambert (nine kills) joined setter Amelia Beigel (29 assists) with 11 digs. Amherst held Frontier to a .034 hitting percentage, which is calculated like a batting average but errors are subtracted from kills.
“Our defense was amazing,” Beigel said. “We went for every ball.”
Frontier also hurt itself with errors. The Red Hawks committed 65 total errors – hitting, serving, receiving, etc. Of the 96 points the Hurricanes scored, Frontier gave them 65 through its mistakes.
“We made too many errors of just about every description,” Frontier coach Sean MacDonald said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Amherst because they played really well, but we have way too much responsibility in the score right now.”
Frontier (6-5, 2-3 Eastern) had more hitting errors than kills in the first set.
“Our setters were struggling with location and pushing it out too far,” MacDonald said.
So the Red Hawks changed their offensive system to a 6-2, which uses two setters on the floor instead of one. Sydney Scanlon finished with 12 assists, while Olivia Rosewarne had 10.
That cleaned up the offense for the second set, as Frontier only had one hitting error and eight kills. The Red Hawks built a 10-1 lead on an Olivia Deane kill. Deane led Frontier with 17 kills and 16 digs.
Amherst chipped away at that advantage, pulling within a point on three occasions, but the Hurricanes couldn’t crest the hill, as the Red Hawks tied the match 1-1.
“Even though we didn’t win that set we were very confident,” Beigel said. “We kept our heads high and we didn’t let he ball drop, that gave us confidence we can come back from anything.”
Some of Frontier’s errors are growing pains. The Red Hawks had only two returning starters this season and are still figuring out their best lineups.
“I know they will (figure it out). I have total faith in this,” MacDonald said. “It’s like I know they can. We certainly have the skill and the pieces to be better than we are right now. Part of this is on me. It’s a bunch of little things that add up.”
The Red Hawks committed 12 errors and scored 14 points in the final set. It was tied 7-7 before Amherst ripped off an 18-7 run. Hogans and Erin Klaes combined on a block in the middle to secure match point.
It was Amherst’s first win over Frontier since 2017. The programs have a friendly rivalry born out of respect. Many play on the same club teams.
“Going into it we thought we would take a loss, which is probably not the best mindset. I’m happy we kept our energy up,” Hogans said.