After escaping an eventful, stressful five-set match over No. 5 Holliston, the No. 4 Amherst girls volleyball team is headed to the MIAA Division 3 state semifinals in its first season since moving down from Division 2.
The Hurricanes had handled business in the Rounds of 32 and 16, sweeping their two opponents to get to the quarterfinals against Holliston. They passed the test against a good Panthers team Thursday night, and will now battle it out with top-seeded Medfield on Monday night at neutral-sited Worcester North High School. The match is scheduled for 6 p.m. with a state-title berth on the line.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 Weston takes on (AT THE TIME OF ME WRITING THIS, DOUBLE CHECK TO SEE WHO WON) the winner of No. 7 Wakefield and No. 18 Norwell.
Amherst has won eight of its last nine matches dating back to Oct. 13, with the lone loss coming against Longmeadow in a thrilling back-and-forth Western Mass. final, but the ‘Canes are going to face their tallest task yet with Medfield (22-1).
Leading Amherst’s offensive attack all year has been the tandem of Lauren Joy and Ruby Austin. Joy has tallied 184 kills this season and Austin is close behind with 164 of her own. A third Hurricanes player has also reached the century mark for kills this year, as Shannon Klaes sits at exactly 100 heading into the championship match. Sophie Kawall has been a solid contributor on the offensive end as well.
Joy and Austin are coming off huge matches where they combined for 34 kills against Holliston. Coming down the stretch of the regular season, setter Annabel Ogden found her groove and carried that into the playoffs. Ogden has recorded at least 20 assists in the last five contests, including a career-high 52 dishes in the quarterfinal win.
The solid Hurricanes back row is led by senior captain Liza Beigel. The all-around star leads Amherst in both digs (380) and aces (75) and seemingly finds a way to be involved in every point. Senior Talia Sadiq is another player to watch out for in both of those categories. Sadiq a very important piece to the ‘Canes puzzle coming off the bench.
Between the powerful hitting of Joy and Austin and the stellar defense led by Beigel, Amherst is more than capable of pulling off a semifinal upset in hopes of playing for a state championship.
