Frontier Regional girls volleyball primed to seek seventh straight sectional title
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The best result of the Frontier Regional volleyball team's trip to last weekend's Medfield Playdate was the lack of injuries heading into the postseason.
Red Hawks coach Sean MacDonald had visions of last year's event, which his team won, but paid for when star player Cassidy Stankowski suffered shin splints afterward.
"I was definitely thinking about what happened last year," said MacDonald, whose team didn't go as all-out in this year's event, spreading out the playing time over the team's six matches.
Stankowski sat out Frontier's first three postseason contests last year, but the Red Hawks cruised through anyway. She returned and led the team to an undefeated season and a state Division 3 title.
"We aren't the powerhouse team we were last year," MacDonald said. "And I had no interest in having her sitting on the bench mad at me for three games because she couldn't play."
Frontier (18-1) is eyeing its seventh straight Western Massachusetts Division 3 title and its fourth state title over that time.
The Red Hawks were named the No. 1 seed in this year's D-3 tournament. They will play the winner of a first round match between No. 9 Belchertown (11-8) and No. 8 Lenox (10-6) at a date and time to be announced.
MacDonald said playing in the playdate was a good way to focus the team as it prepares for the postseason.
"You have six different opponents trying to find ways to beat you," he said. "You get a whole bunch of different eyes looking at your team. It's good for us. We get to work on everything."
He added that having the team deal with some relative struggles wasn't necessarily a bad thing, either.
"It definitely focuses us. The Barnstable loss shined a bright light on the things we had to work on," he said of the team's regular season 3-2 loss to the defending state D-1 champs. "We've been working on those things since then. And we've been working on things since Medfield."
Easthampton (14-6) earned the No. 7 seed and will host No. 10 Pioneer Christian (13-7) in the first round at a date to be announced.
An Eagles win would send them to No. 2 Mahar (13-5) in the quarterfinals also on a date to be announced.
The Eagles finished second to Division 2 Ludlow (18-0) in the Central League.
Also in the Central, fourth-place finisher South Hadley (11-7) took the No. 12 seed and heads to No. 5 Lee (15-4) for a first round match on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The Tigers are back in the postseason after missing by one game last season. After never having played in the playoffs before 2007, the program has made it four of the last five years.
The Orioles couldn't crack the top eight - and the accompanying first round home game - despite winning the Southern League this season.
Division 2
Amherst Regional won five of its last six matches to finish with a 15-4 record and earn the No. 3 seed in the D-2 field.
"I'm feeling about as good as I have ever felt with the progress of a team going into tournament," coach Kacey Schmitt said. "I feel like we are really peaking. The kids are playing with a lot of confidence, a lot more aggressiveness than at the beginning of the year."
The Hurricanes will play the winner of Saturday's first round game between No. 6 Westfield (14-5) and No. 11 Chicopee (7-11). The quarterfinals are set for Tuesday at 6:30.
A Westfield win would bring the Bombers to Amherst for the quarters for the third straight year. Amherst won the match in 2009 and Westfield won last season.
"I bet they are tired of driving to Amherst," Schmitt said.
The teams also played an epic regular season match in Amherst on Oct. 6. The Hurricanes took the match 3-2 with scores of 21-25, 26-24, 24-26, 25-16, 15-7.
The D-2 field featured two undefeated teams, but neither was the top seed because of strength of schedule.
Four-time defending champion Longmeadow (16-1) drew the No. 1 spot. Mount Greylock of Williamstown (18-0) took No. 2, while Ludlow (18-0) was No. 3. Greylock usually plays in Division 3, but was moved up because it has a mixed-gender roster.
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
