WEST SPRINGFIELD — Neither the Frontier or Paulo Freire volleyball team had faced much adversity heading into Friday’s MIAA Div. 5 championship match on Friday at West Springfield High School.
That changed quickly for both squads.
The No. 17 Panthers — who hadn’t dropped a set in any of their 24 prior matches — lost the opening set, 25-17. Then the No. 2 Redhawks, who hadn’t lost a set in either the Western Mass. or state tournament, lost the second set, 25-18, putting both teams in uncharted waters.
Paulo won the third set, 25-18, to take a 2-1 lead and made sure they didn’t relinquish it. The Panthers stormed out to a 11-4 lead in the fourth set, ultimately taking it 25-16 to take home the D5 state title with a 3-1 victory.
“They’re very good,” Frontier coach Sean MacDonald said of Paulo. “They have good ball control and play tough. I’m really proud of my team. It felt like it got away from us a couple points and we got stuck in some rotations. We let the emotions of the situation get to us. I think we could have beat them, just not the way we played.”
The loss deprived the Redhawks (19-5) of their 11th state title. Frontier played without top hitter Jillian Apanell, who was injured in the semifinal win against Mt. Greylock.
The win closed out an undefeated season for Paulo Freire (25-0).
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to be playing today,” MacDonald said. “The girls put in so much work to get here and then to bounce back with two days of practice to change the lineup. If we had a little more time to fine tune and prepare it might have been different but that’s the way the tournament is.”
Through the first set, it looked like Frontier was well on its way to another title. Leading 12-9, the Redhawks scored eight unanswered with Sam Baker and Eve Dougan each putting down a pair of kills on the run.
The Panthers made things interesting late, going on a 7-3 run to cut the Frontier lead to 23-17 but Elise Friedrichs and Caroline Deane each put down a kill to close out the set with a Redhawk win.
It was all Paulo from that point out. Leading 7-6 in the second set, the Panthers ripped off nine straight to take a 16-6 lead. Paulo made a series of errors that allowed Frontier to get back in it, getting it as close as 17-13 after a Friedrich kill.
The Redhawks cut the lead to 21-18 following a pair of kills from Lilah Evans, but the Panthers scored the ensuing four points to win the set, 25-18, and tie it 1-1 in what was an impressive rebound after its first set loss of the season.
Both teams traded points to open the third set. Frontier went ahead 7-5 before Paulo used a timeout. The Panthers came out the break inspired, eventually taking a 16-10 lead. The Redhawks scored points the rest of the way but didn’t have a big run in them, leading to a 25-18 set win for Paulo to take command of the contest.
The Panthers built their 11-4 lead after a pair of kills from Natalie Acevedo, who was a force throughout the match and finished with 10 kills. Baker, Deane and Evans smashed consecutive kills to get Frontier back in it and cut the Paulo lead to 11-9.
That was a close as the Panthers let it get. Paulo scored five straight to go ahead, 16-10. Baker smacked a kill but the Panthers followed it by scoring seven of the next eight points to earn a 22-12 lead. A missed serve ended the game with a 25-16 set win for Paulo.
“In sets three and four, they looked like a team that plays with a lot of passion and emotion,” MacDonald said. “They were riding high. They were swinging fearless and we looked a little timid instead of hitting it the way we can hit it. That just adds up. I’m super proud of the effort tonight and every night.”