High schools: Frontier girls volleyball falls to Wahconah in Class B semifinals

Frontier’s Sophia Pinardi (15) passes the ball against South Hadley in the third set Monday at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield.

Frontier’s Sophia Pinardi (15) passes the ball against South Hadley in the third set Monday at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield. PHOTO BY DAN LITTLE

Staff Reports

Published: 10-24-2024 9:19 PM

For the first time in nearly two decades, the Frontier girls volleyball team will not be hoisting a Western Mass. trophy.

The No. 2 Redhawks fell to No. 3 Wahconah in the Class B semifinals, 3-1, at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield on Thursday night.

Frontier had won the previous 18 consecutive Western Mass. championships.

Frontier started off strong, storming out to a commanding 24-12 lead in the first set before eventually winning the frame 25-18. From there, the Warriors took over. Wahconah flipped the script in set two, winning 25-15, and jumped out to a quick 17-7 advantage in the third en route to another 25-15 score.

The Redhawks then showed good fight in the fourth, but ultimately dropped the set 25-20.

Abigail Hernandez put down a loud 17 kills for Frontier while Olivia Machon (eight) and Greta Hale (seven) combined for 15 of them. Hannah Davis was strong on defense, digging up 23 balls, Parrish Stilla tallied 32 assists and 11 digs while Ariana Miller had a dozen digs and a pair of aces in the loss.

Wahconah will take on top-seeded Baystate Academy in the finals on Saturday in Chicopee.

As for Frontier, head coach Courtney Parent and Co. will shift its focus to the MIAA Division 4 state tournament, where the Redhawks were most recently ranked No. 5 in the latest edition of the power rankings.

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“We started the game really strong and then we picked a bad night to have a bad night,” Parent said. “We will come back stronger for states.”

Non-playoff games

SICS 3, Smith Voc 0 — The Vikings lost in straight sets to the Bulldogs on Thursday, with set scores being 25-13, 25-21, 25-16.

Abby Desrochers had two aces, eight digs and put down four kills while Brook Wolcott had (two aces, one assists, five digs) Roma Bentrewicz (four aces, four assists, two kills) and Nyia Forbes (five blocks, three kills) all contributed for Smith Vocational.

Taconic 3, Belchertown 1 — Fifteen kills from Layla Liminski weren’t enough for the Orioles in a four-set defeat at the hands of Taconic on Thursday.

Set scores were 25-21, 16-25, 25-17, 25-22.

Vivian Ross dished out 27 assists for Belchertown while Melina David (six) and Gianna Picardi (five) combined for 11 kills.

Field hockey

Westfield 2, Amherst 0 — The ‘Canes were shut out by the Bombers on Thursday afternoon despite a stellar outing from goalie Eden Polak, who recorded 23 saves for Amherst.

Girls soccer

Smith Academy 7, Lee 1 — Five more goals from Caitlin Graves were plenty enough for the Falcons to dominate the Wildcats on Thursday afternoon.

Anna Scagel put home Smith Academy’s other two goals while Madison Zononi added seven saves on eight tries in goal.

South Hadley 1, East Longmeadow 1 — Mikayla Weaver tallied the lone Tigers goal as South Hadley tied with East Longmeadow on Thursday evening.

Cara Dean stopped 13 shots in a strong effort in goal to keep the game tied.

Boys soccer

Granby 3, Greenfield 1 — All four of the game’s goals were put up in the second half, including Gavin Moreno’s pair of scores that propelled the Rams to a win on Thursday.

Cole Fuller added a goal and Brandon Carillon put up two assists for Granby as well.

South Hadley 6, Easthampton 0 — The Tigers’ scoring outburst was led by Matt Gillis’ two goals and followed by one goal apiece from Jack Chagnon, Ethan Markham, Brady Graham and Moki Kovacs.

Colin Zraunig, Carlos David, Ethan Markham and Chagnon recorded assists while Easthampton’s Sam Barr made a whopping 17 saves.

Late Wednesday results

Girls soccer

Northampton 0, Longmeadow 0 — The Blue Devils fought hard but couldn’t find the back of the net as the Lancers did a good job taming the high-powered Northampton offense in a draw.

Anna Oravec grabbed five  saves in goal for Northampton to keep Longmeadow off the board.