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Franklin Dethrones Newton North, Wins First State Title in Thriller
By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
BILLERICA, Mass. – When Franklin won its Final Four match against Newton South on Wednesday, first-year head coach Chris Ridolfi smiled when his next opponent was mentioned. As he remarked, if you want to be the best, then you need to beat the best, and three-time defending champion Newton North certainly qualifies.
On Saturday night at Billerica High, Franklin, playing in its first-ever state title match, took down one of the state’s premier programs in a 3-2 (25-15, 25-27, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11) thriller. Franklin (23-2) took the crown from the Tigers and for the first time in program history are the Div. 1 champions.
Ridolfi said, “It was a heck of a first year. You come into a good team and that’s what you get.”
“That took so much out of us,” senior hitter Makayla Kuykendall said about battling back over the final two sets. “You could tell how badly we wanted it at the end. Personally, I did not want to lose that game at all. It was the last game of the season no matter what, so you may as well go out giving everything you have. And everyone did.”
Sophomore hitter Emerson Delleo added, “We all stayed together and lifted each other up. We’ve dreamt of this since the beginning of the season in August, and we’re just so incredibly proud of each other. We have each other’s back no matter what.”
Franklin came out firing in the opening set, going on a 7-0 run to take an early 11-5 lead. Delleo kickstarted the Panthers with three kills, senior libero Emma Cunningham fired in an ace, and junior Gianna Laurello followed a big block on the outside with a kill.
The Panthers were dominating play at the net and the block was swallowing up Newton North’s attackers. Senior Olivia Alberti dropped a nice tip into space for a point and freshman setter Phoebe O’Connor added a block, one of three she had in the opening set.
After the Tigers got a couple of points, Alberti had a big swing and Delleo dropped a serve just inside the back line for an ace, pushing Franklin’s lead to 17-10. The Tigers were starting to come to life and rattled off four straight points to trim the deficit but Franklin closed the first on an 8-1 run. Kuykendall smacked one off the block and O’Connor had back-to-back aces.
Laurello got a big kill, Kuykendall followed with an ace, and Delleo was aggressive at the net to send one back at the Tigers. When Kuykendall’s serve wasn’t returned, Franklin had a one-set lead.
While Franklin had momentum, there were signs of the Tigers starting to figure things out. Junior setter Sasha Selivan was putting the ball wherever she wanted it and the hitters were getting into a little rhythm.
After a back-and-forth start to the set, Nora Hamel fired one off the block, Selivan came up with a huge block, and Ella Tulimieri had a kill to give the Tigers an 18-14 lead in the second. Laurello got one back but Selivan was able to push a shot into an open space. Kuykendall scored from the back row and Delleo found the corner with a bump. After another block from O’Connor, Franklin battled back to tie things up at 19 apiece.
Freshman Pepper Johnson started to heat up for the Tigers and she fired a pair of kills to put them back up by three. Kuykendall answered, as she so frequently does, with a block and a kill. Facing three set points, Franklin rallied. Kuykendall started it with a swing through the block and O’Connor followed with an ace. After a long rally ended with an error, O’Connor fired in another perfect serve to put the Panthers in front 25-24.
The chance was there to put the champs in a 2-0 hole, but the Tigers found a way back. Hamel blasted a shot inside the back line and Selivan pushed a shot into the corner. Hamel closed out the second with a spike off the top of the net and Newton North was right back in the match.
“It’s hard and we had it,” Ridolfi said about the emotional impact of losing that tight second set. “We’re serving to close that set out, so it’s tough. You try not to think it’s slipping away and reset. I’ve got mature athletes on this team and really great leaders that pulled us through today.”
The Tigers carried momentum into the third set, although things remained tight until the end. Franklin led 14-12, but the Tigers scored three in a row. Delleo knotted the score at 16-16 but again Newton North went on a 3-0 run. Alberti and Hamel traded two kills apiece, then Hamel served up an ace to start pulling away.
Johnson got another big swing and from looking like they might be a set away from a loss, the Tigers suddenly were a set away from the title.
Franklin wasn’t going to go quietly and stormed out to a lead early in the fourth. The Panthers led 9-3 and then, following a roll shot from Kuykendall, were up 16-8. A pair of kills from Selivan helped the Tigers claw back, but sophomore Charlotte Yeulenski’s block restored a six-point cushion (18-12).
Newton North kept fighting back, but a hitting error made it 20-16 and Franklin seemed to be in the driver’s seat in the fourth. The Tigers had other ideas and rallied with five straight points, including a pair of kills from Hamel, who really heated up over the middle sets.
An error tied it and the Panthers regained the lead on an Alberti kill. The senior middle hadn’t been involved in a lot of points to that stage, but she came through with a run of clutch plays. Following a Hamel kill, Alberti deftly tipped it over the block and then got a block of her own to make it 24-22.
“I just have to play for my team,” Alberti said about delivering key points when called upon. “I know I’m not going to get every point, so I have to be ready when they set me. It’s all about the team, so I’m just ready all the time, no matter what.”
Charlotte Pernisie cut the deficit to one but a shot went long and the Panthers remained in the final, winning the fourth set 25-23. Coaches will always say that winning the fourth is a massive momentum swing and Franklin roared into an early lead in the decisive fifth set.
An O’Connor block, a kill from Laurello, and back-to-back points from Kuykendall put the Panthers up 6-2. Delleo picked the perfect time for a roll shot over the block, dropping in an important point that made it 8-4 and forced a Newton North timeout.
“We talked to them about that good teams are going to get theirs and we can’t stop them all and we have to be patient and do what we do,” Ridolfi explained. “We were patient enough in the fourth set to close that out and we had a really good start in the fifth set. That’s the difference in the match right there.”
The Tigers reset and came right back. Selivan got it started with a heads-up swing on two and Hamel had a big kill. After an error, the score was tied up at 9-9.
It was Franklin’s turn to go on a run. Alberti came up with a big block to restore some energy and Delleo added an ace to help push the lead to 13-9. Hamel answered back with a pair of kills and forced Ridolfi to call a timeout to speak to his team.
Kuykendall, the four-year starter, set up match point with a pinpoint swing to the back corner. After Newton North stayed alive with a big block, O’Connor again looked to the outside for the senior captain and Kuykendall fired a shot down the line to seal the win and the title.
“It was the same mentality — I didn’t want to lose,” Kuykendall explained. “Every chance I saw to get a kill, I took it. Just swing until it doesn’t work anymore, and for me it worked. And Phoebe knows exactly where to put the ball. She makes it easy to just go up and kill it.”
Alberti added, “I think this is the best way that we could go out. We’ve been working all season for this specifically. We really wanted to win states. I’m so happy to leave Franklin on this big of a win. It’s just the best thing ever.”
With a strong crop of underclassmen returning, Ridolfi is going to look for the Panthers to build off this history-making accomplishment.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “These guys built a legacy here that every other team is going to chase now and we have kids who were part of that legacy, so that will help us chase it a little bit easier. We’ll just keep passing it on I hope.”
Dynamic Duo Delivers for Oliver Ames to Complete Perfect Season
By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
BILLERICA, Mass. – All season, the combination of junior outside hitters Taylor Donohue and Chelsea Wagner has provided Oliver Ames with one of the state’s most dynamic attacks. Saturday morning at Billerica High, facing championship point, the duo delivered once again to lift the Tigers to a first state title.
Donohue received the serve with a pass to junior setter Lyla McDonough, who looked to Wagner on the left. Nearly a year to the date after OA lost in four sets in the final against Westboro, Wagner rose up and blasted a shot down the line, dropping it into the back corner to secure a thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-14, 15-11) win over No. 7 Wayland.
The Tigers had been calling this season “the revenge tour” and that swing was the exclamation point at the end of a perfect (25-0) season.
“We came out scared the first two sets but we looked at each other and said we’ve worked too hard for this all year, we need to finish,” Wagner explained. “We wanted it so bad. Nerves and emotions were high but we’ve been to a fifth set and we know what we need to do.”
It was an especially poignant moment for Wagner, who mentioned that she wasn’t able to return the serve on Westboro’s final point a year ago. Now, she was scoring the final point to clinch OA’s title.
“It felt amazing,” she said. “Being able to return that and get a kill on the last point meant the world to me. I’m so happy that I could do it for the team.”
Donohue added, “It was revenge tour for her too. Seeing her get it back with all that we’ve learned in practice and all that we’ve been working on, it was really good to see her get that last point.”
The Tigers swept 20 of the 25 matches they played this fall, only dropping seven sets combined. Having a pair of hitters who control the net regardless of the rotation has been a major factor in OA rampaging through the season.
OA coach Chelsea Cunningham said, “They’re lights out. I cannot think of a better lineup with both of them, knowing that one of them is consistently on the outside…and we have a chance at a kill. That makes us full of confidence all the time.”
McDonough, who finished with a career-high 57 assists in the final, including the 1,000th of her career, said, “It makes it so much easier for me to just know that I can put the ball there and I know they’re going to do something good with it. They’re going to put it down.
“I really give them all my trust and really relied on them to put that ball down and get us all the points that we got.”
Donohue, Wagner, McDonough, libero Molly Milliken, and middle Claire Kenney all play on the same club team. Their off-court friendships help build the on-court chemistry.
“Being able to rely on her is the best feeling ever because I know she’s going have my back when I don’t swing in the front row and she’s going to get us points and I can get us points on defense,” Donohue said of Wagner. “She’s literally my best friend.”
Wagner agreed, “When one of us is in the back row, the other is in the front row and ready to take on all those sets and those points. I trust her with my life and I know that she’s going to put her all into it.”
Communication is key for the two star hitters. When one is on the front row, the other is ready to call out the right angle to take on the swing or to provide a confidence boost after an error. That support system makes both players better and allows them to come through in the biggest moments.
“When I’m in the back row,” Donohue said, “I’m like you have one blocker up, you have cross, you have line, you have deep line and she’s always there for me too. I know she’s not playing in back row but she still sees those open spots whether she’s on the bench or on the court.”
Wagner added, “We communicate a lot on the court, telling each other the open spots and when we’re tipping and we’re scared I can go to her and say, I trust you and I know you can get those kills so swing away.”
Over the past 364 days, OA has been focused on this moment. The Tigers have put all of their efforts to not only getting back to the state title game, but bringing home the trophy. It didn’t look good early in the match, but they stuck with it, got into a rhythm, and turned the match on its head.
For the two good friends, there is no better feeling than winning the title together.
“It feels amazing and it’s really a reflection of what we do in practice and really we wanted it so bad,” Donohue said. “Words can’t even describe it.”
“The revenge tour is complete,” Wagner remarked. “Undefeated, it feels amazing. We knew that we didn’t want to feel how we felt one year ago and we did everything in our power to make sure we won.”
Volleyball Photos: Oliver Ames vs. Wayland
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Oliver Ames Captures First State Title Following Epic Comeback
By Ryan Lanigan || HockomockSports.com Editor
BILLERICA, Mass. — The revenge tour is complete.
A year after falling in their first-ever appearance in the Division 2 state title game, Oliver Ames completed a perfect season in dramatic fashion, rallying from a two-set deficit to stun Wayland, 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-14, 15-11).
Riding a 24-game win streak into the finals and having only lost one set in its last eight matches, the Tigers had an uncharacteristic start filled with nerves and unforced errors. The Warriors, who knocked off #2 Duxbury and #3 Longmeadow on their way to the final, took advantage and stormed out to a 2-0 lead, just one set away from the upset.
But then the real Tigers showed up.
A dominant start to the third set the tone — the first seven points going in favor of Oliver Ames. And the rest was history — the Tigers closed out the third, dominated again in the fourth, and took an early lead in the fifth that they never surrendered.
“You have no idea,” said a relieved Chelsea Cunningham, who finished her 10th season at the helm of the Tigers with a state championship. “They’re kids, there are emotions, they knew the season was coming to an end. It didn’t hit them until they hit the court. So after we shook the feeling, we got to work.
“We had been in this spot before and we had said all season how we were going to change how it ended — so let’s do it. Taylor Donohue came in after the second set and said it’s time for a reverse sweep and that’s what we did.”
Taylor Donohue helped set the tone early in the final set for the Tigers. After getting blocked on her first swing, she tipped over the double block, and then used a short push shortly after to find a hole in the defense. After a nice pass from junior Molly Milliken (20 digs, 25 serve receptions), junior Chelsea Wagner smashed a kill between the block and Wayland had a hitting error to give OA an early 5-2 advantage.
Chelsea Wagner had two more kills, the latter coming on the third swing of a rally, and a two-touch call on the Warriors had the Tigers ahead, 8-4, at the switch. Wayland got a point back on a kill from Audrey Nugent but a huge dig from senior Evan Casey set up a strong swing from Donohue for a point. Another push from Donohue and good net defense from junior Claire Kenny increased the lead to 11-6, forcing a second Warrior timeout.
Another Nugent kill was canceled out by a serving error and then Kenny came up with a massive block. Wayland made it interesting with two points, including a big block from Fiona Strehle, but Wagner put down another kill to put the Tigers on the brink.
For the clinching point, Donohue (27 kills) took the serve with her hands, junior Lyla McDonough pushed a set to the outside, and Wagner smashed one — her 27th kill of the match — down the line to the corner to clinch the state championship.
“We started to play our game,” Cunningham said of the final three sets. “Playing with confidence, supporting one another on the court and whether it’s an earned point for us, or we lose a point. This is a game of mistakes — we have to make less.”
Donohue added, “This feels good, like really, really good. We worked extra hard this year. It couldn’t be any better. We’ve wanted this so bad, words couldn’t even describe. We had some trauma from last year in this building but we wanted to get rid of that.”
Nerves were on full display early for the Tigers, who have kept mistakes to a minimum throughout the season. Instead, OA had nine unforced errors — half of Wayland’s 18 points in the opening set — as the Warriors jumped ahead 18-12. It seemed OA found a little momentum late after fighting off five straight set points to pull within 24-22 — including three straight kills from Wagner — but the Warriors closed it out to go up 1-0.
OA had a bright start to the second with McDonough landing a pair of early aces and catching the Wayland defense off guard with a dump on the second touch, as the Tigers had an early 10-4 lead. But Wayland kept swinging and clawed back into it. A block from Willa Suratt and a kill from Nugent brought the Warriors within two, and then Wayland went on a 4-0 run to surge ahead, 20-18.
OA battled back with three straight points, including another ace from McDonough (57 assists, including her 1,000th assist, four aces, 35 service points), but Wayland once ahead had a 4-0 run, including two aces from Anna Yalli, to take it 25-22, and go up 2-0 in the match.
“We came out scared the first two sets and we looked at each other and said ‘we have worked so hard for this all year — we need to finish,'” Wagner said. “We reverse-swept and every single one of us on our team did everything they could to win because we wanted it so bad.”
The Tigers had another strong start in the third, and this time, kept their foot on the gas and never let the lead slip. Donohue slammed a pair of kills early and Wagner had another. Then came the separation in the form of a 5-1 run — kills from Wagner and Donohue, and a perfectly placed tip from freshman Lyla Yurrita. When Wayland pulled within two (14-12), Wagner had two kills and Kenny dropped an ace just inside the far line for a 17-12 lead.
OA won the final five points of the match, including a dump on two from McDonough for the 24th point, and an ace from McDonough to clinch it.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a year,” McDonough said. “It’s been so long. We were not going to go down without a fight. We wanted this. After we won that third set, we weren’t stopping. We were like, all gas and no brakes. We did not want to stop.”
The fourth set couldn’t have started any better for the Tigers. Kenny and Angelina Romeiro combined for a block, Donohue and Romeiro each had a kill, and a pair of errors from Wayland to give OA a 7-0 lead.
Kenny, Wagner, and Donohue each added kills in the run, and senior Lindsey Solomon served up an ace as OA’s advantage ballooned to 14-6. Fatigue seemed to set in for the Warriors, who made three straight errors. Romeiro smacked one off the block, and two more Wayland errors put the Tigers on the brink. Wagner finished it off with a kill off the block, 25-14, to make it 2-2.
“The redemption is there,” Cunningham said of her seniors. “The tears, the celebration…they contributed to an undefeated season which we’ve never had before. And I just could not be more proud of all of the kids on this team.”
Oliver Ames finishes the season with a perfect 25-0 record.
Field Hockey Photos: Franklin vs. Walpole
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Despite Fierce Defensive Effort, Franklin Falls to Walpole in Final
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Saturday’s Schedule & Scoreboard – 11/15/25
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Football Photos: Canton vs. Marblehead
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Resilient Canton Rallies to Beat Marblehead, Reaches Final Four
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