SPRINGFIELD — The Pioneer Valley girls high school volleyball summer league wrapped up its last week of play at the American International College’s gymnasium on Thursday, with a pair of local squads walking away with hardware.
The Magical Unicorns volleyball team galloped its way to an undefeated season after a 2-0 win over Eagles VBC in the On-the-Rise Division championship match.
The top-seeded Unicorns finished 22-0 on the season and didn’t drop a set during their summer campaign in the Pioneer Valley Juniors league. Turners Falls graduate Mario Pareja oversaw the team as coach.
The team had members from several local schools including Turners Falls, Mahar Regional, Greenfield, Northfield Mount Hermon and Winchendon.
“It all has to go to the team,” Pareja said. “Everybody knew each other, and the people who didn’t really know each other had somewhat mutual connections. But slowly everyone became friends and worked together really well.”
With a summer league, the team dealt with some attendance issues on occasion. The team fought its ways through it kept the momentum going forward.
“There were times when we had to scrap together a team from eight people,” Pareja said. “I’d have to throw people in random places that they’ve never played before. I never got a single complaint. Everybody did what they had to do.”
Maddie Haight of Turners Falls led the charge in the creation of the team. It was Haight who assembled the roster, as the league needed one more team. Haight brings a lot of athleticism to the net but does a little bit of everything for the team. It started with the recruitment of her teammates at Turners Falls, before branching out to add more talent.
“It was a great idea,” Haight said. “A great start for Turners. Just to warm up before the season. So, I grabbed as many Turners girls as I could. That wasn’t quite enough so I reached out to other schools…we all came together as one.”
The Unicorns actually faced an 11-8 deficit in the second set against the second-seeded Eagles VBC. Behind the service of Abby Moffatt, the Unicorns took the lead 17-12. Julia Belville and Bailey Martin both had kills during the run that decided the match. The final set scores were 25-14 and 25-16.
“It was great because we all clicked together,” Haight said. “It was great to see that in our team. It’s not something you get very often. Having all my teammates from Turners Falls is really going to jumpstart the season. Going into the season it’s going to make us a lot better.
In the semifinal match the Unicorns dispatched the fourth-seeded Vipers, 2-0. Set scores were 25-20 and 25-10.
Amherst earns bronze in Premier Division
The Hurricanes stormed past the Colts, 2-0, to close out the campaign with a bronze medal.
Amherst won with scores of 25-22 and 25-18 in the best-of-three format. The Hurricanes entered as the fourth seed in the Premier Division Gold bracket.
Prior to its bronze-medal match, Amherst dropped a tight semifinal contest to Block Party, the top overall seed, in three sets.
Block Party won the first set, 25-21, before the Hurricanes forced a third set with a 25-22 victory in set two. With a trip to the gold-medal match on the line, Block Party persisted with a 15-13 win in set three.
The Pioneer Valley summer league celebrated its 15th season this summer, which is run by the Pioneer Valley Juniors volleyball program, a club team based in Western Mass.
