Frontier Regional wins seventh straight sectional girls volleyball title
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HOLYOKE For the seventh straight year, its back to the states.
Frontier Regional School won its seventh straight Western Massachusetts Division III girls volleyball championship with a 25-13, 25-7, 25-11 verdict over Mahar Regional School on Saturday at the Bartley Center.
The top-seeded Red Hawks (21-1) relied on near-flawless serving, as runs of 13, seven and eight points early in each of the respective sets kept the second-seeded Senators (15-6) on their heels throughout the 57-minute contest.
We didnt miss a lot of serves, and they had trouble with the float serve, offered Frontier head coach Sean MacDonald, whose teams improved to 31-5 in the postseason and 196-14 in his nine seasons in South Deerfield.
We served a lot today, he continued. It wasnt as much hitting, blocking and digging, but in the finals you have to take it any way you can get it.
Mahar is a good team, he added. They deserved to be here and are well coached. I tip my hat to them for the season they had.
Frontier now faces North sectional champion Lynnfield High School (23-0) Tuesday night at 7 at Leominster High School in the state semifinals.
Mahar actually jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first set on Kelsey Meuses serve. But after missing the fourth serve, Frontiers Kate Harper (seven assists, four kills) stepped to the line and reeled off 13 consecutive points four via aces to put Frontier up 14-3. Cassidy Stankowski recorded five of her match-high 12 kills during the run.
The Hawks extended the lead to as many as 13 points, and Mahar never got closer than 10 (19-9) as Frontier slowly chipped away and eventually won the set after Harpers crosscourt put-away.
Harper and Julia Wan were the story of the second set.
Harper fired home two aces to help the Hawks take a 4-0 lead. A quick exchange of points put Wan on the line and she responded with a seven-point run to extend the lead to 12-1 before the Senators Sam Parker stopped the rally with a two-hand power set into the far corner that wasnt returned.
Kelsey Abramsons nice tip at the net gave Frontier the ball back. Then three quick points from Marie Wheeler (game-high 14 assists) made it 16-2. Sam Pierson got a couple points back for Mahar, before Stankowski ripped two aces on her jump serve during a quick four-point burst to extend the advantage to 20-4. Frontier got it to 24-7 when Courtney Parent (10 assists) served for the final point of the set.
Wan (18 service points, three kills) made her impact in the final set with eight straight points (one ace) to put Frontier up 9-1 at the outset.
Shes got a really hard, flat, knuckleball-type serve that only clears the net by six inches, so its hard to see, said MacDonald. Shes one of the most improved players from last year, and Im glad we have her for another year.
After an exchange of points, Abramson scored on a kill and Stankowski was given the rest of the afternoon off after her tip to make it 12-1. Wheeler was in the middle of a five-point service run, and she was replaced by Tori Whitney, who added two more service points (including an ace) to make it 17-1 before MacDonald emptied the bench.
Melanie Abercrombie, who recorded two kills in the third set, closed out the match with an ace.
