Easthampton volleyball recovers from slow start to sweep Pioneer Christian
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EASTHAMPTON — Easthampton volleyball coach Molly Jacobson watched her team trying to shake off some rust early in Friday’s match.
She only hoped her Eagles could battle to a first-game victory and then right the ship in the second.
"I was thinking the entire time that if we could just get the win, we could then figure out what we needed to do differently," she said. "If we could take the momentum into the second game, I knew we could recover and bounce back from there."
Easthampton did just that, overcoming four service errors and multiple mishits to topple Pioneer Christian 25-23 in the first game and then cruised to scores of 25-9, 25-18 for a 3-0 victory in the first round of the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament.
"It definitely took a game for us to get in the groove again," senior captain Emily Boysen said. "Because of all the power outages, we haven't had many practices this week and it took some time to get back into the groove."
No. 7 Easthampton (15-6) advanced to the quarterfinals, where it will play at No. 2 Mahar Regional (13-5) Monday at 7 p.m.
"I honestly know nothing about (the Senators), which I think could be a benefit," Jacobson said. "Sometimes, you get too caught up in dealing with what they other team is going to do. We need to focus on the things we need to do well to give us the best chance to win."
Like many teams in western Massachusetts, Easthampton was very short on practice time leading up to the postseason. It rounded out its regular season with a 3-0 loss to Division 2 Ludlow at home on Friday, Oct. 28, and didn't get on the court again until Thursday, one day before opening the tournament.
"We had one good practice (Thursday). It took us maybe an hour to knock all the rust off," Jacobson said. "We tried on Wednesday to have a practice out in the parking lot because we couldn't practice (in the gym), but it was crazy being out there on the concrete outside. It didn't go that well, but we got some ballhandling in."
On Thursday, "they wanted to get in. They wanted this game. They came in and practiced hard. It was really intense," she added. "Even (Friday), they wanted to get here at 4 o'clock to have another practice before the game. They meant it. They really wanted to win tonight. They knew the commitment they needed to put into it."
The cobwebs were clear early on for both Eagle squads and the first game featured tied scores at 1-1, 4-4, 6-6, 8-8, 11-11, 16-16 and 17-17. Easthampton appeared set to pull away when it took a 24-21 lead, but PVCS rallied for a pair of points before Boysen blocked a kill attempt to end the game. Moneerachena Nhem's service game was key to helping Easthampton survive a rough game as the junior had four of her five aces in the opener.
Easthampton dominated the second game from the start, jumping out to a 6-2 lead behind a two kills by Elizabeth Whitney (seven kills, five aces, four digs) and a Boysen ace. Easthampton kept the pressure on, pushing the advantage to 17-7 when Nhem stepped to the back line and served five straight points. Whitney added two more kills down the stretch en route to the lopsided victory.
Pioneer refused to go down easily in the third game, clawing its way to 13-13, but Easthampton's Haley Nicol converted consecutive kills to get her team rolling. Kayla McFarland and Boysen each added kill down the stretch as Easthampton scored 12 of the match's final 18 points.
Advancing in the tournament "means a lot," said Boysen, whose team fell in the first round last year. "We have struggled in tournament games before, so this year means a lot to pick it up and win the first game."
Easthampton honored the school's boys soccer seniors prior to the game.
"We felt really bad because they didn't make tournament this year and their senior game was cancelled" because of the storm, Boysen said. "We felt that it was necessary, because we are a very close-knit school, to honor them in some way."
The team asked Jacobson at practice Thursday and the coach said she was proud of her team.
"They put it together," she said of her players. "It shows what kind of genuinely nice people they are."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
