AMHERST — The Amherst volleyball team didn’t make things easy for Frontier on Tuesday.
The Redhawks and Hurricanes played a competitive first set that Frontier was able to take over late to go ahead, 1-0. The Redhawks then turned on the jets in the second set to build a 2-0 lead.
Amherst showed a lot of heart in the third, capitalizing on Frontier mistakes and making a number of diving plays to keep the ball up and send it to a fourth set. Like the first frame, the Hurricanes kept it close throughout, but the Redhawks took over late to earn a 3-1 Eastern League victory.
“Amherst played really hard,” Frontier coach Sean MacDonald said. “Everyone is dripping with sweat; it’s hot in here. The floor got slippery and I’m just glad both teams didn’t come away with any injuries. Amherst played hard and we made too many errors in that third set.”
Amherst coach Kacey Schmitt said she was proud of her team for never giving up and continuing to fight through the tough parts of the match.
“I’m very proud of the effort against a team that’s really good year in, year out,” Schmitt said. “This is our third match in a row so we’re seeing some things that I’m anxious to work on in practice. We never got down on each other, we fought back from deficits and never gave up. That’ll carry us far this season.”
Frontier (3-0, 3-0) got out to a 9-3 lead in the opening set but a pair of big runs got the Hurricanes back in the frame, cutting the deficit to 11-8. The set was tied 18-18 late but the Redhawks scored seven of the final nine points to earn a 25-20 set win.
Frontier jumped out to another early lead in the second, going ahead 20-7. Amherst fought back with Amalia Martin coming up with a series of kills, but the hosts were unable to dig themselves out of the hole, with Frontier going ahead 2-0 via a 25-15 triumph.
The Hurricanes (3-1, 0-1) were the ones to get off to a hot start in the third, rocketing out to an 8-1 lead. Frontier got back in the set late with a series of five-point runs, but Amherst held on to stay alive thanks to a 25-20 set win.
“Third set was sloppy,” MacDonald said. “We had a lot of hitting errors and when we got the ball back we had service errors. We had some other mistakes with communication that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”
Both teams traded points throughout the fourth set, with the Redhawks pulling away midway through following a series of Hurricane errors.
A pair of tips by Frontier setter Sydney Scanlon helped keep the Redhawks ahead, and the visitors ultimately came out with a 25-18 match-clinching win.
Eve Dougan had a big match for Frontier, putting down 16 kills and five aces. Caroline Deane tallied seven kills, Gabby Adams had four kills, Brooke Davis had four aces and Scanlon dished 29 assists in the win.
Getting a good early season test from Amherst was something MacDonald said his team needed, and he was able to see his team show heart and fight back when things got tough.
“We need this,” MacDonald said. “It’s no good for us if all the games are easy and this one certainly wasn’t. Credit to Amherst, they’re a good team.”
Martin was a force throughout for the Hurricanes, leading the way with 10 kills while also distributing eight assists. Lauren Joy had six kills, Annabel Ogden had 10 assists and three aces while Ruby Austin tallied two aces in the loss.
Like MacDonald, Schmitt said she liked seeing her team get challenged on Tuesday. She saw plenty to like and plenty to work on going forward.
“It’s always good to play a Frontier because you have to rise to the occasion,” Schmitt said. “Everyone likes a good match and likes being challenged. There were some things we need to clean up. Our serving in crucial spots is something we haven’t done. There’s things to work on and things we need to lock down on. We’re playing good volleyball, we just have to sharpen up aspects of our game.”