EASTHAMPTON — With a timeout still in her back pocket after watching her team’s once-big lead slip away, Easthampton head coach Molly Jacobson decided to let her team figure it out on their own.
The No. 2 Eagles found themselves down 25-24 after leading by eight points earlier in the set, and couldn’t surrender another point or the match would extend to a fourth frame.
Jacobson said her team hasn’t played the ball well out of the net all season long, in fact it’s something they’ve struggles mightily with. Well, Easthampton picked the right time to change that narrative.
The Eagles won the final three points in a row, two of them being lengthy rallies with the ball getting caught in the net, and pulled out a three-set win (25-19, 25-17, 27-25) over No. 7 Smith Vocational in the quarterfinals of the Western Mass. Class C Girls Volleyball Tournament on Monday night.
Easthampton (14-5) will host the winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal match between No. 3 Lenox and No. 6 Athol in the semifinal round.
Katelyn Martin and Kaelin Damon had six kills apiece to lead Easthampton’s offense, Lidie Buttrick (15) and Kayley Downie (14) combined for 29 digs, Downie added seven aces, and Emersyn Nadin chipped in six digs and five assists in the win.
“Honestly, I was thinking that this is gonna be a learning moment, I let them figure it out,” Jacobson said. “I knew I had the timeout left, but I knew they were gonna figure it out. I say the same thing over and over again in a timeout anyway, and I truly wanted it to be a learning moment. They really upped their hustle when they got down.”
The Vikings (9-8) have been the comeback kids this year, and Monday seemed to be no different. They may have come up just short but they didn’t let a slow start demoralize their energy and effort. Smith Voc fought back and was one point away from completely turning the match upside down.
Heidymar Diaz-Lopez had a strong offensive showing with nine kills for the Vikings, Roma Bentrewicz facilitated the offense with 12 assists, and Josie Dubay was stellar defensively, blocking four balls and digging up three more.
“Every single time we’ve lost, every single coach has said, ‘You’re a team that just doesn’t quit,’” Smith Voc head coach Ashley Clark said. “It would be great if we could do that a couple sets earlier. But we do have a lot of fight in us, and I think there were some nerves coming off the weekend into a Monday game which plays a role.”
It was scheduled as a road game for Smith Voc, and, yes, it was played at Easthampton, but the Vikings fans made it feel like they were the team with home-court advantage. Smith Voc traveled big, and traveled loud. The Vikings handed out free pom-poms for senior night, so the fans’ mantra has been to “embody the spirit of the pom-poms,” according to Clark.
“It helps support us a bunch,” Clark said. “We have an awesome fan section. Most of the parents come, friends and boyfriends have started to come along to every game, so it really helps with our morale and adds fuel to the fire.”
As for the Eagles, Monday was the perfect outcome. They not only moved on to the semifinals, they also were tested and now know what it feels like to play in a competitive playoff game in a playoff environment. Jacobson wanted Easthampton to show why it’s ranked No. 2 in Class C, and that might have correlated to the nerves and tightness as each set turned out to be close.
“I built it up and told them to come out as this dominant No. 2 seed, and I think the slow start kind of made them feel like, ‘Uh oh,’” Jacobson said. “But Smith Voc was great, they were relentless. I think had they gotten more of their serves in, this would’ve been a much closer match in terms of sets, because it was close although we beat them in three.”
Smith Voc is still inside the top 32 for Division 5, and the Vikings are likely to make the final state bracket when it’s all said and done. The loss to Easthampton showed that they’re capable of hanging with – and possibly beating – teams who are in stronger divisions. Monday’s contest was important for more reasons than one for Clark.
“It was really important for them to see that they can compete with teams in higher divisions than them number one,” Clark said. “And number two, I went [to Easthampton]. That’s my old coach over there. I knew what we were in for. It was fun to have that pep talk with them, but all in all, we came up just short today.”
Frontier 3, Commerce 0 – The Redhawks began their quest for their 18th consecutive Western Mass. title with a 3-0 sweep over Commerce in the Class B quarterfinal round.
Set scores were 25-16, 25-18, 25-18.
Caroline Deane recorded double-digit kills for the 13th time this season, as she led the Frontier offense with 16 on Monday. Gabby Adams (six) and Kate DeMaio (four) combined for 10 kills as well. Allie Pierce set up Deane and Co. with 26 assists while adding a whopping 11 aces in a stellar effort from behind the service line.
The Redhawks will now host Belchertown on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. with a trip to the championship on the line.
Belchertown 3, Taconic 1 – The fourth-seeded Orioles are through to the semifinals, taking down visiting Taconic, the No. 5 seeds, on Monday night in the quarterfinal round in Belchertown.
