GREENFIELD — The South Hadley girls volleyball team secured its fourth straight win after downing previously unbeaten Greenfield, 3-1, Wednesday night.
The Tigers took the first set, 25-17, but the Green Wave came back with a 25-23 victory in set two to even the score at 1-1. Momentum was difficult to maintain for either squad from then on, however South Hadley managed to close out the contest by taking sets three and four by scores of 25-18 and 25-21.
“Our communication, we’ve been working really hard on our communication,” Tigers head coach Brooke Conner said on the difference in Wednesday’s bout. “Especially today, when it got close, that definitely took us the extra step that we needed to win.”
Grace Matyszewski led South Hadley in kills with 12, Vivian Marion had the most digs (12), assists favored Maya Lamirande (10) and Maya Thielen and Aimee George each accumulated a team-high six aces.
“I put a big emphasis on everyone doing their job and helping the girl next to you do their job so that we work as a team,” Conner said. “I think a few times we lost sight of that, but when we reset and focused on our job, we work really well as a team.”
Thielen was all around the court for the Tigers, in particular, as the junior posted five kills, six digs and nine assists to go along with the team-leading six aces.
“Maya Thielen is not typically our setter and she stayed in for all of the rotations today,” Conner said. “She really took it away with serving and setting and I’m really proud of her for that because that was a new position for her.”
Greenfield saw strong performances from Amy Mihailicenco and Ashlyn Koscinski in the defeat. Mihailicenco managed four aces, 15 kills and two blocks while Koscinski contributed three aces, four digs and a kill.
South Hadley (6-4) will look to make it five in a row when it travels to Chicopee next Monday, September 29.
The Green Wave (8-1) will look to rebound with a home match against Athol on Friday that is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
Longmeadow 3, Amherst 0 — The Hurricanes fell to 7-3 overall in the shutout loss.
Aliyah Kenney (two kills, 10 digs), Alyciana Hackett (eight kills, six digs) and Rosalie Davis, (kill, ace, 10 assists) were active for Amherst.
Belchertown 3, Easthampton 1 — The Orioles snapped a seven-match losing streak with the four-set road victory.
Layla Liminski’s 14 kills and 17 digs had a huge say in Belchertown’s win, along with notable nights from Olivia Skora (three kills, 27 assists, two aces, five digs) and Kaiya Cavanaugh (assist, five aces, 28 digs).
Set scores favored the Orioles 25-19, 25-19, 17-25 and 25-13.
Sophia Belfakih paced the Eagles with two kills, two digs an ace and a block.
Frontier 3, Athol 0 — The Redhawks breezed past the Bears in the three-set win. Set scores were 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 for the visitors.
Avah Spearance (six kills, two digs) and Cadence Martin (three kills, 14 assists and two digs) helped Frontier to its first shutout victory of the season.
Giana Vaillancourt (four kills) and Ella Reed (three assists) played well for Athol.
Boys soccer
Pathfinder 7, PVCICS 1 — Aiden Kailola scored for the Dragons, who allowed seven unanswered goals in the defeat.
Goalie Grace Rachele recorded seven saves before getting injured. Theseus Doherty stepped in and made two saves.
Holyoke 2, Hopkins 0 — Goals from Christian Piedra and Nayan Tabin lifted the Purple Knights to its second consecutive win.
Golden Hawks goalie Matt Feltovic concluded with seven saves.
Central 10, Easthampton 0 — The Eagles suffered their worst loss of the season in Springfield.
Smith Voc 2, Franklin Tech 1 – The Vikings extended its point streak to four games in its close win.
Josh Cole and Cameron Ball booted in goals for Smith Voc. Nate Georgia netted the Eagles’ single strike.
Girls soccer
Amherst 3, Easthampton 1 — The first half was the difference as a pair of Hurricanes outscored the Eagles, 2-0, in the first 40 minutes to help Amherst take win No. 2 on the season.
Zoriah Kenney, Beatrice Eggemeier and Nora Hanna had the Hurricanes’ goals while Gianna Covalli nabbed Easthampton’s lone tally.
Both goalies (Amherst’s Annika Redington; Easthampton’s Noella Ryan) finished with six saves.
Belchertown 4, Westfield 0 — Two points from Morghan Litz and two assists from Cami Adamczyk highlighted the Orioles shutout against the Bombers.
Aubrey Klingensmith, Eleanor Mazzaferro and Alexa Karabetsos also scored for Belchertown, which poured in three of its four total tallies during the second half.
Cross country
Gateway 21, Belchertown 38
Gateway 15, Veritas 50
Belchertown 15, Veritas 50 (girls): The Gators grabbed two wins in the tri-meet at Littleville Dam while the Orioles earned one victory.
Ava Christie won the 5k race in 25 minutes, six seconds for Gateway and was followed by teammates Savannah Petersen (second, 25:11) and Anya Niles (third, 25:32) among top-five finishers.
Belchertown brought in the next three runners as Kylie Fitzgerald (25:50), Serena Jones (25:56) and Molly Mazzaferro (26:27) placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
Field hockey
South Hadley 1, West Springfield 0 — The Tigers improved to 6-1 with the win as Teagan Cavanaugh scored the deciding goal off an assist from Ella Haber.
South Hadley goalie Sofia Cestero had three saves.
Belchertown 7, Holyoke 0 — Three players tabbed multi-point nights as the Orioles flew past the Purple Knights.
Edith Audette and Kina Roy each slotted four points on two goals and two assists, while Addi DiBona had two helpers for Belchertown.
Westfield 6, Northampton 0 — Charlotte Johnson Mersack made 21 saves, but the Blue Devils were held off the board.
The Bombers netted three goals in each half.
Golf
West Springfield 155, Amherst 184 — Ben Scott and Phin Pyecroft each shot a nine-over 45 as the Hurricanes’ best scorers in the defeat at Springfield Country Club.
Graham van Giessen (46) and Callum Bohne (50) were Amherst’s next best scorers in the defeat.
Easthampton 207, Chicopee 232 — The Eagles halted their losing streak with the victory at Chicopee Country Club.
Jacob Murrett (45), Landon Dickinson (52), Bryce Evans (55) and Bo Sansouci (55) earned contributed to Easthampton’s winning score.
LATE TUESDAY RESULTS
Golf
Smith Voc 173, Turners Falls 189 — Vikings co-medalist Pat Dabrowski shot a six-over 40 to power the victors at Wycoff Country Club.
Dabrowski was followed by Andrew Persaud (41), Keller McMahon (45) and Conor Braunschweig and Jack Larochelle (47) for Smith Voc.
The Thunder were led by Ethan Eichorn’s 40, with Andrew Eichorn (46), Cam Cogswell (47) and Liam Kerivan (56) rounding out their scorers.