Copyright berkshireeagle
DALTON — The Warriors weren't messing around Saturday afternoon with their opening matchup of the MIAA Division IV Volleyball State Tournament. The No. 9 Warriors knocked off No. 24 South Hadley with a resounding three-set sweep. The only set that was particularly close was the third, and that wasn't until the throttle had been eased off of. Wahconah advanced to the Round of 16 via a 25-11, 25-13, 25-20 victory. In the tough-luck 9 slot, the Warriors will have to take a trek to Dedham to face No. 8 Ursuline Academy. Ursuline swept Springfield International in the first round. Wahconah was coming off a three-set loss in the PVIAC Western Massachusetts Class B Championship match against East Longmeadow, but had a full week to shake that off. "Having an entire week gave us an opportunity to heal a little bit, forget a little bit, work on some things that we needed to work on," said coach Dave Lussier. "Happy with how we played today." The Warriors were in command from the opening serve, building an 8-2 lead in the first set and never really relenting. Set 2 was more of the same, with the hosts forcing a South Hadley timeout up 12-5. Sensing the sweep, Wahconah put its foot down early in the third, going up 8-1 and then eventually 19-6. Things slowed from there and South Hadley did close the gap all the way to 22-18. But the Warriors weren't about to extend their evening. Senior Alex Rougeau subbed in and swatted down a big kill for the 23-18 lead. Two volleys later, she came up with a crafty tip kill for match point 25-20. Rougeau had 19 service points in the win and logged three aces. Taea Cunagin had the hot hand with nine kills and an ace, while Melaina Haczela sent out 15 assists. "I'm really happy with them," said Lussier. "Being the 9, we go to the 8, new team we haven't seen before, little bit of a bus ride, but I think we'll be OK with it and hopefully go on from there." Mount Greylock 3, Wareham 0 WILLIAMSTOWN — In their first ever Division IV State Tournament match, the Mounties took care of business like they did fairly often in D-V. Mount Greylock was moved up a division by the MIAA this school year and the Mounties earned the No. 12 seed in D-IV, which meant a home match in the Round of 32. Visiting No. 21 Wareham wound up the victim as Greylock moved through the Gatemen 25-20, 25-16, 25-23 on Saturday afternoon. Olivia Perez led a multi-faceted attack with 13 kills and 10 assists, while also logging five aces and 4 blocks. Tyanna Lepicier put down eight kills and also had 15 digs defensively. Kaleigh Jaros doled out 15 assists and contributed five digs. Celelia Keogh and Anna Garnish added eight and seven digs a piece. "I am very proud of this team's resilience and work ethic and it is great to win what is possibly our last home game of the season," wrote Greylock coach Greg Geyer. "There were several extremely long rallies with great digs and saves today. "Great to see the effort on homecoming weekend! This is a young team that is growing every day and we look forward to next week!" Mount Greylock won the D-V state title in 2023. No. 5 Rockland High also earned a Saturday sweep and will now play host to the Mounties in the Round of 16. That match is slated for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. out south of Boston. Lenox 3, Kipp Academy 0 LENOX — The Lenox High volleyball team kept momentum rolling off its first PVIAC Western Massachusetts Championship last weekend by opening the MIAA State Tournament with another 3-0 sweep. The fourth-seeded Millionaires knocked out No. 29 Kipp Academy in straight sets Friday evening in the Division V Round of 32. The win was Lenox's seventh straight, as the Millionaires improved to 19-1. The last five of those wins have all come via sweep. Lenox moves into the Round of 16, where it will host No. 13 Franklin Tech. The Millionaires beat the Eagles at home back on Oct. 23 3-0 in the PVIAC Class C semifinals. The Eagles make another trip to Lenox on Monday night at 6 p.m.
