Amherst sweeps Westfield in quarters

AMHERST - Ashley Fuller was everywhere she needed to be as the No. 3-seeded Amherst Regional girls volleyball team swept No. 6 Westfield in the quarterfinals of the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament on Tuesday night.

The senior setter led the Hurricanes (15-3) with 18 assists, five digs and two aces in the 25-19, 25-13, 28-26 victory.

Amherst advanced to play in the semifinals at No. 2 West Springfield (20-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Terriers beat Commerce 3-0 in another quarterfinal on Tuesday.

The Bombers finished their season at 10-11.

"Our team just works so well together," Fuller said. Westfield "changed their attack position and they were beating us on the corners but we adjusted and did a lot better towards the end."

Senior right hitter Piso Mohlala played strong defense against the Bombers (10-10) throughout the match. Mohlala finished with 17 digs and five kills.

Mohlala showed her range in the first game when she dove to the back right corner to prevent a second straight Westfield point.

The Hurricanes converted the dig into the first point of a 7-0 run that put Amherst Regional ahead 10-1 in the first game.

"When I saw that I thought, #Well, if that's the way we're going to play tonight, we're going to be in good shape,' " Hurricanes coach Kacey Schmitt said.

The Bombers threatened to push the match into a fourth game until Schmitt called a time-out following four straight points by Westfield in the third game, all to the right back corner.

Amherst came back onto the court leading 20-18 and the teams changed leads four times before outside hitter Sonia Brown scored the game-winning kill, her seventh of the game.

"I just wanted to get a kill and fire everyone up," said Brown, who also had five blocks and eight digs. "You have nothing to lose when you go out and just keep attacking."

Libero Hilary Woodworth (17 digs) and outside hitter Jennie Rogers (five kills, 12 digs) also played well for the Hurricanes.

Schmitt credited her team's ability to stay calm under pressure, especially when a team exploits its defensive weaknesses like Westfield did.

"They're a fun team to coach because they're serious about what they do but they never lose sight of the fact that they're a team," said Schmitt of her players.

"I think that that has helped us sustain some of the momentum swings that you see in volleyball," she said. "They stay positive and that's something that they've worked on, but it's also something that they do naturally anyway."

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