Wednesday’s Division 2 state semifinal will be a tall order for the Amherst Regional girls volleyball team.
The Hurricanes face Central Mass. champion Hopkinton at 7:30 p.m. at Holyoke Community College, and the Hillers feature three players at least 6-feet tall.
Amherst (23-0) lists its tallest player, senior middle Jen Joy, at 5-10.
“They’re taller than us. We’re going to try and get hands up in their faces. They have one especially outstanding outside hitter who’s going to be able to hit over our block quite a bit,” Amherst coach Kacey Schmitt said. “We’ve been analyzing where she goes, and we’re going to put our defense there and try to dig it up and get her frustrated.”
Junior Amanda Gilbert has 178 kills this season and has hit .330. She’s one of the 6-footers along with senior Julia Canestrari, who has 149 kills, which is second on the team. Ivy Gogolin stands at 6-1 and has made 37 blocks this season.
“They don’t have a lot of weaknesses,” Schmitt said. “We’re going to try and counter what they do we well. We have our quickness.”
That quickness translates to a stout defense. Amherst has two players who average at least three digs per set and two more who have two digs per set. Libero Periya Yath has 224 on the season, while Claire Basler-Chang has 222.
“They read the hitters quite well and see where the ball gets set and do a good job of making that adjustment on the fly,” Schmitt said.
On offense, Amherst can score from every non-libero position on the court. Setter Teya Nolan has 644 assists, and three Hurricanes tallied more than 150 kills. Meg Rice led the way with 216, and Basler-Chang had 206.
“I’m a little worried about Claire. Her knee is still not 100 percent,” Schmitt said. “She’s been laying low the last couple days. She’s such a big cog for us. That’s a bit of a worry. I trust she’ll come back and play well.”
Amherst is playing in its first state semifinal since 2006. Hopkinton (20-2) won a sectional title for the second time in three seasons.
The Hurricanes are satisfied with winning Western Mass. but won’t stop at that if they can help it.
“As a team we have expressed to each other that just because we won Western Mass. doesn’t mean we can just relax,” senior setter Teya Nolan said. “We all know that we can achieve more. We have made it this far, there is no reason for us to just sit back. We are in it for the long haul.”
At least the Hurricanes won’t have to make a long haul to get to the game. They’ll play at HCC for the second consecutive game.
“Familiarity and not having a long drive is an advantage,” Schmitt said. “Usually the western Mass. teams are the ones that have to travel. That’s a nice bonus.”
The court still measures 60 feet by 30 feet no matter where it is, and the Hurricanes know the importance of landing serves in that space.
“I think we can play with anybody but we can’t beat ourselves,” Schmitt said. “We’re going to have to get our serves in. They’re a consistent serving team. We have to be able to match that and not give them points they don’t earn.”
NOTES — Basler-Chang, Nina Hayes, Rice and Nolan were named first-team Western Mass. Hall of Fame All-Stars by the International Volleyball Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Care McKenzie, of Belchertown, Frontier’s Ella Deane and Lauren Davenport, and South Hadley’s Kiana Turner also made the first team.
The second team included Amherst’s Amy Lynch, Periya Yath and Jen Joy, Belchertown’s Audra Hale and Quinn Rorche, Brianna Thurber and Selayna Bathurst of Frontier, and South Hadley’s Morgan Adams.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.