GRANBY – Michael Swanigan and Braeden Gallagher had just taken the volleyball net down from another win Wednesday night, but they weren’t ready to pack up the balls just yet.

The two went off to the side of the gym and began hitting at each other, trying to squeeze in 15 more minutes of practice after a 25-14, 25-12, 25-11 sweep over Athol that moved Granby to 16-1 on the year. In just their third full season as a varsity program, the Rams are currently the top seed in the Western Mass. Class C bracket, and with one more West League match to go, they’re on the precipice of a second consecutive undefeated league season. 

Granby coach Chad Gagnon said his players are obsessed with the sport. Swanigan, Gallagher and Jake Gagnon play year-round, and the Rams are reaping the rewards.

“We do doubles on Easter, sunrise, and the snow,” Swanigan said. “Nothing stops us.”

Whenever they find spare time – and a spare patch of grass – the trio recruits another member of the team and sets up a doubles match. After matches, they try to get in as much volleyball as they can until the gym closes. On Friday, the facilities staff at East Longmeadow High School was “ready to get us out of there,” Swanigan said.

At the club level, Swanigan is an outside hitter, Gallagher is a libero and Gagnon is a setter. But at Granby, they all combine to play similar roles.

All three can set and all three can hit, a versatility that’s unmatched. Gallagher said that before this season, he had never heard of such an arrangement.

“Me, Jake and Michael all doing the different setting stuff, it just gives us so many more opportunities,” Gallagher said. “The other teams are confused. They’re always saying ‘set’s back, set’s back’ but in the real world, there’s three of us.”

On almost any other team, if a setter dove out of position for a dig, the opponent could pounce. But if Gagnon is out of position, Gallagher and Swanigan are right there to back him up. And on the offensive end, having three players with similar abilities helps the Rams stay in-system on almost every point, which means they can run their offense faster and cleaner.

When Granby practices, they make sure that players rotate to different positions so they can all work on different aspects of the game. The Rams varsity roster only holds eight players, so Swanigan, Gallagher and Gagnon play the full match, every match. Jake Gagnon said that Granby’s versatility can mask its depth.

“If somebody does get hurt, then we have somebody who can always step up and set,” Gagnon said. “We’ll never really run out of setters.”

While many teams have one player responsible for the vast majority of their kills and another for their assists, Granby tends to have a more even box score. Against Athol, Swanigan led the team with nine kills, but Gagnon added six, Gallagher added five, and freshman Nathan Walsh contributed seven. Gagnon led the team with 15 assists, but Swanigan had eight and Gallagher had four.

“They play volleyball in their off-time,” Chad Gagnon said. “They play volleyball every weekend. They’re always, always pushing themselves. They practice together without me, and it shows.”