Oliver Ames senior Landon Sarney, pictured here earlier this season in a dual meet at Borderland, won the D1 All State title by less than a second. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
By Ryan Lanigan || HockomockSports.com
In a dramatic final charge, Landon Sarney powered past John Bianchi and claimed the MIAA Meet of Champions Division 1 individual title right at the finish line.
Sarney entered the final stretch behind Bianchi, but as the finish line inched closer, so did Sarney. He made his move, passing Bianchi and leaning across the finish line to win by 0.26 seconds as seen in dramatic video captured by MetroWest Daily News reporter Tim Dumas.
“I knew he had a pretty sizable gap on me, but I knew from last spring track that I could kind of close a race pretty hard,” Sarney said in an interview with BayStateRun after the race. “I knew I had some leeway and I knew I could kind of close it up a little more and I was able to get it right at the line.”
“[Winning] was definitely a goal coming into it. I never really thought anything else, you know. It’s nothing to lose at this point in the season.”
It capped a dominant season for Sarney, who went undefeated in all five Hock dual meets, set three course records, took first place at the Hockomock League championship, and was second overall in the D1C race where the Tigers took first as a team.
“For an athlete like Landon Sarney, every day, he’s trying to find a way to get just a little stronger, a little faster,” OA head coach Kyle Sousa told HockomockSports.com. “He’s trading miles for inches — hours of training for a few precious seconds on the race course. There is something special about a moment where all those sacrifices add up to achieving something amazing. I watched him pay the price of that win a thousand times over, and it was a historic moment for the team to watch Landon put it all together into such an incredible race.”
Sarney (15:33.28) is the third Tiger all-time to win an all-state title, joining Andy Powell in 1998 and Mike Moverman in 2008, who both took first in the Division 2 All State race.
Oliver Ames finished seventh overall as a team with a score of 250. Brookline had all five of its runners finish inside the top 30 and won the team title with 67 points. Devon McStowe (16:22.64) took 30th while Lawrence Dear (16:54.17) was 72nd. Colin Donahue (17:03.45) and Jake Hauvuy (17:17.58) also scored for the Tigers.
North Attleboro junior Anthony Malakidis capped a strong season with a sixth place finish in the Division 1 race, crossing in 15:58.29. Sharon’s Alex Pinnix (17:02.61), Franklin’s Kyle Twomey (17:03.38), and Attleboro’s Owen Lacaillade (17:04.82) all cracked the top 100 in the Division 1 race at Fort Devens.
In the Division 2 race, Foxboro’s Timmy Chase (17:10.55) took 42nd overall and Canton’s Tristan Grant finished in 18:09.61.
On the girls’ side, Canton junior Lauren Raffetto secured fifth overall to lead the Bulldogs to a second place finish as a team. Raffettoclocked in at 18:28.08, sophomore Adileh Azar crossed in 19:49.51, Lexi Piazza was 35th overall in 20:31.48, Isabella Holland crossed in 20:47.21, and Madeleine Driscoll was the fifth Bulldog across the line in 21:39.46.
Boston Latin Academy took first with 115 points while Canton finished with 149 points.
Foxboro sophomore Emma Dorich capped an impressive season for the Warriors with a 26th place finish, clocking in at 20:06.01.
Junior Kathleen Beaulieu was once again the leader of the pack for Hock runners in the Division 1 race, clocking in at 19:48.58 for 44th overall. The Tigers finished 18th as a team with 454 points with Devin Thomas (20:31.29), Ashley Powers (20:52.08), Erin Reilly (21:42.76), and Norah Dupill (21:49.00) also factoring into the scoring.
Franklin’s Victoria Courtright-Lim capped her senior season with a time of 20:18.69 while King Philip junior Ashley Cleverdon crossed the finish line at 20:57.44.
Franklin senior Makayla Kuykendall celebrates after winning a point in the Division 1 state championship game against Newton North. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
The senior gave every last ounce of energy and effort on Saturday night in the Division 1 championship game against powerhouse Newton North. But she had just enough left for one more swing.
That swing hammered to the floor in the back corner, the clinching point to finish off Franklin’s comeback and secure a 15-12 win in the fifth set to clinch a 3-2 (25-15, 25-27, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12) victory over the Tigers. It was the final point of the season, and fittingly, it came off the hand that has steadied the Panthers over the past four years.
“I’m feeling great, but I’m dead [tired],” an exhausted Kuykendall relayed after the marathon match inside a quite warm Billerica gymnasium. “That took so much out of us. 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.”
Kuykendall has been a starter since she first put on a Franklin uniform, growing from a promising underclassman into the program’s heartbeat. When the Panthers trailed 2-1 in the match, it was the senior who kept demanding the ball, kept taking the tough swings, and kept pulling her teammates back into the fight with words of wisdom and encouragement after each and every point.
“She wanted that one [before] really badly,” said first year Franklin head coach Chris Ridolfi. “Then she went and she made a really good shot up to win it for us. So, you know, I’m proud of her. She’s the kind of kid that just makes everybody better. And she’s willing to do whatever she has to do to make us better. So it’s great that she got the chance to have that last one.”
From the start of her career, Kuykendall has been a massive bright spot in the lineup. Not only has she been one of the best players the program has seen, her energy has been infectious. Whether it was a Tuesday evening in September, or the state championship game, Kuykendall has brought the energy for four years.
“Anytime there’s a good point or a bad point, she brings us together,” said sophomore Emerson Delleo, who started last year as a freshman like Kuykendall did in 2022. “When it’s tense, when we’re nervous, she helps us get through it and figure out how to get those points back.”
“She has so much energy. I look up to her so much and I love playing with her. She’s amazing.”
Statistically speaking, there haven’t been many in the program, or in the Hockomock League, that have contributed across the board. She finished her career with over 950 kills on over 2500 attempts, over 200 aces, over 1,000 digs, and nearly 300 sets played.
“I’m so fortunate to have this as my town volleyball team,” Kuykendall said. “You don’t have to go to a club to find a good team — we have so much talent in Franklin. Every year we bring in strong players. Even the eighth graders coming up, you can tell we’re going to have another good team. The Franklin volleyball program is just great, and I’m excited to see what comes next.”
Kuykendall smacked down a kill on the third point of the fifth set, and then had back-to-back kills, including a nice roll shot that dropped in, as Franklin’s lead jumped to 6-2. Delleo added a kill to put the Panthers ahead 8-4 at the switch.
As Newton North continued to push back, a kill off the block brought the Panthers within two at 13-11, but Kuykendall got a set and made no mistake with her swing, hitting the back corner to make it 14-11. The Tigers got one point back, but the final serve was received by junior Gianna Laurello, freshman Phoebe O’Connor put it up in the air to the outside, and Kuykendall flew through the air, drilling one to the floor one final time as a Panther.
“I didn’t want to lose,” Kuykendall said. “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.
“I just wanted to end it. I was confident in myself that I could get that last one for us. You could hear me screaming, ‘Give me the ball!’ I wanted it so bad. Literally this has been on my mind all season. Since August, we’ve been saying state championship.”
Kuykendall also had five key kills in the fourth set, the one that kept the match going for the Panthers. She slammed a pair early, had two in a row midway through — one off the block, and another on a roll shot, and then when Franklin’s once-eight-point lead was cut in half, the senior rose up once again and delivered to keep Franklin a safe distance ahead.
“I feel like it’s just like the perfect way that it could have ended,” said Franklin senior and fellow captain Olivia Alberti. “Because like she came in here like as a freshman, starting outside. She did so good then and she’s just continued to be so good every year. So for her to close it out was just like the perfect way to end everything.
“She really kept us in it, making sure that we were pushing hard throughout the whole game. She wanted to make sure that we were there mentally because we knew that we could be there physically but you just have to have the right mindset.”
Kuykendall is taking her energy, skill, and championship pedigree to Bentley University next year.
Franklin senior captains Makayla Kuykendall (9) and Olivia Alberti (16) hoist the Division 1 state championship trophy after knocking off three-time champions Newton North. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
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.”
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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.”
Oliver Ames volleyball celebrates after completing an epic comeback against Wayland to win the program’s first ever state championship. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
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.
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Franklin players celebrate after the final point against Newton South clinched a spot in the program’s first state title match. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com) By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor
WESTWOOD, Mass – Newton South, the No. 16 seed, put together an improbable run to the Final Four, including a win over the tournament’s top seed Chelmsford in the Sweet Sixteen. The Lions went into Wednesday night’s state semifinal at Westwood High looking to complete their magical postseason with a trip to the program’s first final.
Instead, the clock struck midnight on this season’s Cinderella.
Franklin continued to roll, earning a dominant, 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-16) victory. It was Franklin’s 17th straight win, with 15 of them being sweeps (including all four postseason matches). The Panthers fulfilled their preseason goal of reaching the program’s first state title game in style and will face perennial power Newton North in the final.
“We’re so excited,” said Franklin senior hitter Makayla Kuykendall. “Our goal wasn’t just to win the league but it was to win it all. [Coach Ridolfi] asked us what we wanted to get from this season and we said, a state championship. We’re so lucky and grateful to have this privilege to play.”
“We were cleaning the closet,” first-year Franklin coach Chris Ridolfi explained, “way before preseason and Mak and Liv said they wanted to be in the state final. So, we’ve coached them that way the whole year and they’ve taken me on the ride.”
Each of the three sets started close until Franklin put together a run to open up a cushion. Once the Panthers got onto the front foot, it was hard for Newton South to keep up.
Leading 8-6 in the first, senior Olivia Alberti (nine kills, three digs, and six blocks) found the court with a deft tip and freshman setter Phoebe O’Connor (31 assists, two aces, and 10 digs) had a huge block to open up a four-point edge. The Lions halved the deficit but Franklin won eight of the next 11 points to pull away.
Alberti’s control of the net in the middle was key to Franklin’s success early on. She came up with a huge block and followed it with a kill and a tip that dropped just inside the line. Alberti added an ace to push the lead to six (15-9).
“The whole year, she’s been that way,” Ridolfi said of Alberti. “She’s fast off her feet, she’s strong at the net, she can just change a game that way. We count on her to do that for us.”
Kuykendall (15 kills, 12 digs, two aces, and two blocks) rolled a shot down the line for a point, the Panthers had multiple blocks during a long rally that ended in a Newton South hitting error, and junior Gianna Laurello (five kills, two aces, and five digs) smacked one off the block to give Franklin a commanding 18-11 lead.
Senior libero Emma Cunningham (three aces and 22 digs) fired in an ace and Alberti followed with another block. Cunningham again picked out the perfect spot with serve to the back corner for a second ace to keep the Panthers in charge. Newton South cut the lead down to seven, but sophomore Emerson Delleo (nine kills, three aces, and 15 digs) drilled the ball down the middle and Laurello’s serve clipped the top of the net for a set-clinching ace.
The second set didn’t start all that well for either team, as a series of service errors kept it close through the early stages. With the set level at 9-9, Franklin went on one of its standard runs to break things open. This time, the Panthers won nine of 11 points and 16 of the final 20 points in the second.
“We talk to them a lot about game plan and approach,” Ridolfi said. “We game plan and they have to execute, but our approach is we find a spot in the game where we can separate ourselves and play with the lead. Through the tournament, that’s what we’ve been able to do.”
Kuykendall got things started with a pair of kills and sophomore middle Charlotte Yeulenski stuffed a shot for a point. O’Connor hit a laser serve that couldn’t be handled cleanly, Laurello scored off the block, and Kuykendall added an ace to make it 15-10. After Annabel Kohler got one back for the Lions, Delleo closed out a rally with a shot inside the back line and Kuykendall scored with a swing from the back row.
Newton South was reeling and, after a shot into the net, Delleo’s powerful swing scored a point and Laurello added an ace. Alberti came back with an accurate tip and she and O’Connor combined to smother a shot at the net. O’Connor would add a second block two points later and Delleo’s ace delivered the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
“I’ve been in those shoes as a freshman,” Kuykendall, a four-year starter, responded when asked about helping the team’s talented younger players thrive in the tournament atmosphere. “I know how they feel, I know where they’re coming from. Obviously in these games, there’s a lot of stress, a lot of pressure, so I think it’s good to remind them that we’re all in this together.”
Ridolfi praised his seniors, particularly Kuykendall, Alberti, and Cunningham, for being the foundation for the team’s run. He said, “The team as a whole is a mature team. Those three are exceptional leaders. So, you have a mature team willing to follow and you have three great leaders willing to lead, it makes for a good combination.”
The Lions started the final set well, leading 5-2 early to give their fans a little hope, but Franklin chipped away and grabbed the lead at 10-9. Alberti’s block and a roll shot from Kuykendall but the Panthers up 15-11 and starting to feel like the final was in their grasp.
Newton South tried to push back and closed the gap to three, but Franklin went on a 3-0 run that gave it a more comfortable advantage. Kuykendall ended Newton South’s mini-comeback with a blast and then she finished off a rally with a shot that dropped inside the back line. A block from Yeulenski made it 19-13.
Sofia Hellstrom tried to keep the Lions alive with a nice tip and a big swing on the outside, but the Panthers continued to close down the angles with their block and keep everything alive along the back row.
Two shots into the net gave them match point and a final swing that went long sealed Franklin’s place in the final. Franklin (22-2) will now face three-time defending state champ Newton North at Billerica High on Saturday. As Ridolfi noted, “Might as well play the best.”
“It’s a big task ahead of us,” he added. “We have two days to get ready. I know they’re up for the challenge, so we’ll do what we can do.”
Oliver Ames junior Claire Kenny (3) celebrates after an ace in the Tigers’ Division 2 state semifinal match against King Philip. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
By Ryan Lanigan || HockomockSports.com Editor
STOUGHTON, Mass. — Since the moment last year’s state final ended, Oliver Ames has been building toward another shot.
The Tigers have done it with the same formula every match: rock solid defense, a variety of offensive weapons, and relentless effort.
On Wednesday, that combination delivered again as top-seeded Oliver Ames swept Hockomock League rival #5 King Philip, 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-12) to book a return trip to the Division 2 state championship game.
“This is their revenge tour,” OA head coach Chelsea Cunningham said. “They’ve been planning this since we were in that classroom [at Billerica High School] one year ago [after the state final], and they never wanted to feel like that again. And they meant it. A lot of teams will come in and say it. They’ve kept their focus on this. This has been on our whiteboard in the team room — like, we’re going back. We went one game at a time, took everything, positives and negatives from every match, to be able to craft how we were going to get here. And they’ve done nothing but stick to their work.”
The Tigers were met by a game Warriors squad at the start of the match. Unsurprisingly, the two squads went back-and-forth for the first half of the set. OA had a couple of small two or three point runs, and then King Philip took its turn. The result, a slim 11-10 lead for the Tigers.
But like OA has done to teams all season, they just kept coming. A tip from junior Taylor Donohue (16 kills) preceded a kill off the block from classmate Chelsea Wagner (15 kills), and then one from junior middle Claire Kenny. Earlier in the set, Kenny had a big block and senior Evan Casey floated a short serve just over the net and down for an ace.
After a service error, OA came back with three straight points including an ace from Kenny and a big block from freshman Lyla Yurrita shortly after junior setter Lyla McDonough made a terrific save on a ball flying out of play and OA’s lead was suddenly 17-11.
Another block from Yurrita kept the momentum with the Tigers and then senior Lindsey Solomon toed the service line, dropping in a pair of aces around a kill from Donohue as the lead ballooned to 22-14. KP battled: a kill from senior Cece Kilroy, who earned her 500th kill earlier in the set, a perfectly placed tip from junior Amie O’Neil, who then teamed up with senior Alli Cleasby for a block to get within six at 23-17. But Donohue, who usually swings from the outside or the right side, popped up with a kill from the middle and OA sealed the set win after a KP hitting error.
OA’s balance and depth was on full display in that first set. McDonough (26 assists) was responsible for setting up the majority of the Tigers’ kills and junior libero Molly Milliken (21 digs) was super steady defensively, helping OA get into its offense seamlessly.
“Everybody contributes and that’s what makes us such a great team,” Kenny said. “It’s not one person winning the games. It’s all of us contributing together. Lyla knows that we have such a strong offense and that she can rely on setting anybody. She knows whoever she sets, they can work with it no matter what.”
Cunningham added, “Any point of those six rotations, we’re comfortable. We have learned to adapt to whatever we have to do, with whoever is out there, knowing who connects well, knowing we can switch it up. The trust, you can see it on the court. If they make an error, they acknowledge each other right away to move on, and they do it. Volleyball is a game of mistakes. We try our best to make less of them, and we came out on top of this game, which is great.”
OA played from ahead for the entire second set, though it was hard to fully pull away from KP. Early kills for Donohue and Wagner sparked the Tigers, though Kilroy landed three early kills, including a great shot down the line to keep pace.
But once again, OA just kept going with its relentless play. Yurrita found a hole in the defense, Donohue landed a kill after a long back-and-forth rally, and Solomon had an ace. A kill from KP sophomore Molly Sweeney off a set from classmate Charlotte Bailey brought the Warriors within five at 13-8, but in a blink, OA’s lead reached double digits. Kenny dropped in a tip, McDonough had an ace, Donohue and Wagner each had a kill, and senior Angelina Romeiro went up and put down a block on a loose pass as the advantage peaked at 19-9.
The Warriors refused to go quietly though. Senior Cece Mullen set Kilroy for a kill out of a timeout, OA had a hitting error, and then Mullen got a deep free ball pass to hit the line after a nice dig from Mya McCormick. Kilroy had two more kills and O’Neil, after a nice dig from Caleigh Shore, put one down from the middle as KP crawled back into it at 21-17.
“We never really had control at any point of the match,” King Philip head coach Kristen Geuss said. “There’s a reason why they’re undefeated. They’re a phenomenal team, kudos to them. They’re a really great team. I thought we played well in the first set, just couldn’t keep up with them in the next two sets.
“I’m really proud of my team. I admire how hard they’ve worked. They’re practicing six days a week and they haven’t had a day off — they’re tired. We had to work super hard for all our points. It’s almost like we have to play perfect to beat a team like that. We wanted to see what we could do, and we got this far, it was really fun.”
Yurrita had another block, Solomon had another ace, and Donohue another kill, as OA closed out the second, 25-18.
OA put any thought of a comeback away pretty early: the Tigers won 11 of the first 13 points for a commanding lead. Romeiro rolled in a kill, Donohue had two aces, and Wagner found a gap to land a roll shot. Sweeney had a block and Bailey dropped in an ace to cut it to 13-7, but the Warriors didn’t win consecutive points the rest of the set.
“If you watch the first match we played [KP] two months ago, we’re both completely different, and I had a completely different lineup and so did [KP],” Cunningham said. “You don’t know what to expect and you prep as best as you can. You still have to show up prepared. We scrimmaged Needham and Franklin, and now playing Canton and KP, that’s the level of play we want to be at.
“This group is so smart. They’re able to reflect immediately and adjust if they have to. They adapt, they talk, they communicate. And like I said, the trust is unmatchable right now. It’s fantastic. This is the best group I’ve had to date.”
Oliver Ames will look to finish off its revenge tour in the Division 2 state championship right back at Billerica against #7 Wayland on Saturday.
“It’s very nerve-wracking, obviously, but also so exciting,” Kenny said. “We’ve been here before so we know what to expect, and we’re all very eager to claim that title this year.”
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FRANKLIN, Mass. – Franklin took the lead in Monday afternoon’s Div. 1 quarterfinal at Beaver Pond Field midway through the second quarter. When the horn sounded at the end of the fourth quarter, the scoreboard showed that the Panthers were still in front by a goal, but Hopkinton forced a corner so even though the clock read 0:00 the game wasn’t over.
Senior Ella Fowler got space and time at the edge of the circle and hit a rocket into the far corner, tying the game in the most dramatic (or devastating, depending on your perspective) way possible.
It was the kind of moment that could derail a team, especially one as young as Franklin, but the Panthers regrouped, reset, and regained control of the game. The hosts dominated in 7-on-7 and one minute into the second overtime period freshman midfielder Cade Taccini was tripped while driving at goal.
The officials gave a penalty stroke for denial of a clear scoring opportunity. Taccini was the pick to step up to the spot to try and win the game. She coolly rifled the ball into the top corner, giving the goalie no chance, sealing a 2-1 win, and sending the Panthers to their third state semifinal in the past five seasons.
“Wild, wild,” said Franklin coach Michelle Hess. “In all my years, I’ve never experienced anything like that. Them scoring with no time left was pretty crushing but I walked over to my team and they were like, ‘We’ve got this.’ They were almost too excited, we did some reset breaths to get them back down.
She added, “As soon as they called that stroke, I knew it was going to be Cade. She’s got the strongest shot on our team and I had faith in her. They played out of their minds tonight. They really wanted this game and they wanted to send a message to show that we can get back to the Final Four.”
Taccini explained, “I knew that was my moment. I had to capitalize on it and if I didn’t I’d have to be running back and forth some more. I just remember putting the ball on the line and I knew my spot and I just knew I had to score that.”
Franklin started slowly in each of its first two playoff games but on Monday, even without leading scorerElla Marzullo who picked up an injury in warmups, the Panthers got onto the front foot early on.
Jossie Camp forced a turnover and stepped up into the attack. The ball swung to the right for Tori Cahill, who fed it to sophomore Penelope Brady on the right side of goal. Her shot was kicked aside by Riley Curtin. The rebound was cleared at the far post with freshman Lily Aparo lurking.
Late in the first, on a corner, Taccini slipped a pass to Addi Weiss but her shot was deflected out. Sophomore Clara Blongastainer followed with a drive through the crowd but there was no touch.
Hopkinton had a scoring opportunity early in the second quarter. Avery Quebec fired a shot towards goal but Abby Burke’s tip went wide. Taccini had another scoring chance at the other end and Brady saw her round cleared off the line with the rebound popping out to the other side the Hillers again managed to clear one right on the line.
The breakthrough came with 6:50 left to halftime and it came from an unlikely source. Taccini again played the initial pass into a crowd in front of goal and in the scrum, with Brady and Ava Lucenta also in the vicinity, junior Kiley Silvestri got the final touch to push the ball over the line, just her third goal of the season.
Fowler had a shot through a crowd blocked just in front of Franklin goalie Devon Barry, who didn’t face a shot on target until the Hopkinton goal, and Blongastainer managed to squeeze the rebound out of danger.
The best chance for the hosts came with no time left in the third quarter, as they created a pair of corners. On the second one, Taccini fired the ball into the crease and Brady got a piece of the shot but couldn’t steer it on goal.
In the fourth, Lucenta started a corner routine with a pass to Taccini, who found Brady in space to the right of goal. Her shot found Blongastainer’s stick but the deflection took the ball into her body. A couple minutes later, sophomore Samantha Feigen made a nice steal to keep Hopkinton pinned back. Brady fired the ball across the face of goal and Weiss wasn’t able to get a touch despite being at full stretch.
Searching for a second goal that could put the game away, Caydence Canavan found Taccini for a shot off a corner, but Curtin made the save.
Franklin had only allowed nine goals in 20 games coming into Monday, including a pair of shutouts in the playoffs, and hadn’t allowed a shot to get through to Barry since the opening round, but the Hillers got one more chance and Fowler did not miss with her unstoppable blast.
When the game went to 7-on-7, Hess threw out a lineup that included two seniors (Barry and Lucenta), a junior (Camp), two sophomores (Brady and Blongastainer), and two freshmen (Aparo and Taccini), with freshman Amelia Manning coming off the bench. In the biggest moment, it was a freshman that stepped up.
It comes as no surprise to Hess, who has leaned on her underclassmen right from the start. “They showed right from the get-go that they were going to buy into our culture and tradition,” she said. “We did graduate so many good players but these guys just believed from the very beginning and they knew we could get back.”
The Panthers don’t often have a chance to show off their resiliency but it was on full display on Monday, as they quickly righted the ship and found a way to win.
“It definitely impacted our team a lot,” Taccini said of the Hopkinton goal, “but our coach, she really calmed us down. We do breaths, they really work. We knew this was our moment, we can’t lose. We never lose on the Beav, we just had to come out as strong as we can.”
Franklin (16-2-3) will face No. 3 Wellesley in the Final Four on Wednesday night at Westboro High. Five years ago, the program reached its first state semifinal. Now, it is headed to its third. The Panthers have reached the quarterfinal every year under the new tournament format.
“I’m very blessed with players who just love this sport and they just come out every day and work hard,” Hess said, emotion creeping into her voice as she thought about what it takes to keep the program at this level. “The expectation every year is to get back here and they buy into it.”
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ANDOVER, Mass. — With No. 4 Andover applying pressure in the first two sets of Sunday’s quarterfinal bout with No. 5 Franklin, the Panthers leaned on their veterans who had been there before to cruise to a 3-0 win by way of 25-20, 25-22, 25-8 at Andover High School.
Franklin (21-2) advances to play perhaps the hottest team in the tournament in No. 16 Newton South, which has downed No. 1 Chelmsford and No. 8 Brookline en route to the Final Four. That game is slated for Wednesday at Westwood High School (7:15 p.m.).
A talented Golden Warriors team made Franklin work for its second semifinal appearance in the last three years. But Makayla Kuykendall (14 kills, 10 digs, two aces, two blocks) and Olivia Alberti (eight kills, two aces, four blocks) ensured a clean sweep.
“We needed to close it out,” Kuykendall said. “Just to finish strong and finish it out right there. We didn’t want to go to a fourth set or a fifth set. We didn’t want to have that nervous ending.”
Both quarterfinal victories Kuykendall and Alberti have had a hand in have been upsets. Franklin edged No. 2 Haverhill in 2023 to punch its ticket to the semifinals, where it fell to Barnstable.
“My favorite moment throughout all of volleyball was making it to the Final Four a few years ago, and that was like a really big upset,” Alberti said. “So to do it again this year and to also be an upset is such a big moment.”
Andover (18-5) received strong play from Jessie Wang (10 kills, seven digs, block), Naomi Vajda (four digs, eight kills, 10 service aces) and Farah Berty (15 digs), but Franklin’s well-rounded engine was too much to overcome.
“You can’t be ashamed of losing to a team that outplayed you on a given day,” said Andover head coach Dan Young. “And I felt like today they were the better team, so they are deserving to move on.”
The teams were tied at 15 early in the first set in what was a tightly contested game. But Franklin eventually created a 23-20 lead and sealed game one with an ace from Alberti.
“We just had to stay steady,” said Franklin head coach Chris Ridolfi. “We didn’t panic. If you noticed in the first set, I didn’t take a time out. I just let it roll, and I asked them to be steady. They were steady.”
Alberti would notch huge kills in the second set to help Franklin pull away and set the tone in the final set with pivotal kills in the early goings. Phoebe O’Connor (37 assists, three aces, 24 digs) developed a strong connection with Franklin’s hitters.
“The energy overall was really good, so it was able to bring me up,” Alberti said. “And I think the setter-hitter connection all night was really good. We were just pushing really hard through every point.”
After Franklin raced to a 20-12 lead in the middle frame, however, Andover struck back. A pair of Vajda kills cut the deficit before Wang and Camryn Leithead added kills as Franklin’s cushion dwindled to 24-22. Kuykendall spoiled the comeback effort to take the set.
“They keep them on track and they keep them together,” Ridolfi said of Kuykendall and Alberti. “It’s something that you can’t measure. It doesn’t show up on the court, but we would probably be lost without it.”
Franklin’s attack was supplemented by a large supporting cast, including Emerson Delleo (seven kills, two blocks, 14 digs), Gianna Laurello (five kills, three aces, five digs, one block), Emma Cunningham (three aces, 24 digs) and Charlotte Yeulenski (four kills, two blocks).
Ridolfi may be a first-year head coach, but it didn’t take long for him to gauge his team’s determination early in the season to return to Sunday’s stage after a loss in the quarterfinals last fall.
“From the very beginning, they told me this is where they wanted to go,” Ridolfi said. “And they’ve prepped like that, they’ve practiced like that, all of them.”
With a trip to the state finals on deck, Franklin will keep taking every game one point at a time.
“I think we definitely set the tone that this game is like, ‘You got to win this game.’ We were really excited, and we came into this wanting to win. Our goal has always been looking forward and just looking to the next game,” Kuykendall said.
Jason Cooke is the editor of Valley Sports Daily – a sister site of HockomockSports.com. You can contact him at Jason@valleysportsdaily.com and follow him on Twitter at @cookejournalism.
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Oliver Ames volleyball celebrates with its Final Four trophy after beating league rival Canton in four sets. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
By Ryan Lanigan || HockomockSports.com Editor
NORTH EASTON, Mass. — For a moment, it felt like the script was flipping. Oliver Ames rolled through the first two sets, then let a late lead get away in the third as Canton forced the match to stretch longer than it looked like it would just moments earlier.
The Bulldogs erased an eight-point deficit in the fourth and drew level in the closing points. But this time, OA didn’t break. Canton kept answering, but back-to-back kills from Chelsea Wagner and Taylor Donohue finally closed out the fourth and sent the top-seeded Tigers to the Division 2 state semifinals with a 3-1 win (25-10, 25-15, 22-25, 27-25) over the Bulldogs.
The final point was emblematic of the match. Senior Angelina Romeiro went to the floor to dig up a Canton attack, and Donohue was forced to push it over. A free ball came back over, but the Bulldogs came up with a double block on Donohue’s second swing. On the third chance, Donohue slammed one to the floor to close it out.
“I think we got up in our feelings a little bit knowing that it was that close and all the pressure,” said Oliver Ames head coach Chelsea Cunningham. “They started to feel it towards the third set, but that just means after that we realized it’s anybody’s game. We had to take it one point at a time, reset as much as we could. I even took timeouts to calm them down because I could see it in them. You just can’t shake that feeling that it’s coming that close.
“I’m so proud of them. They fought through that pressure and learned how to persevere even when our weaknesses were being exposed constantly. We still gave it right back to them.”
Wagner went up and smashed one of her 20 kills to give the Tigers a commanding 19-11 lead in the fourth set. Canton freshman Brooke Connor (12 kills) had a perfect line shot for a kill and sophomore Michaela Singleton followed with an ace, but Wagner came through with another kill to make it 20-13 as OA was just five points from closing it out.
But a service error opened the door for the Dogs, and sophomore Brynn Connor sandwiched a pair of kills off loose passes around an ace from junior Fiona Trendell, and Brooke Connor put down another loose pass and suddenly Canton was within two at 20-18.
Sophomore Lyla McDonough (32 assists, four aces) won a battle at the net for a key point for OA, junior middle Claire Kenny (six kills, five aces, two blocks) put a kill down, and a service error put the Tigers on the brink at 23-20. But once again, Canton came back. Senior Chloe Dubuisson (18 kills) hit a roll shot into a hole in the defense and OA had back-to-back hitting errors as the set to knot the score 23-23.
Wagner got a kill, but Canton stayed alive after an OA hitting error. Wagner and Brooke Connor traded kills again to tie it at 25-25. Adjusting to the defense, Wagner threw one to the back corner to make it 26-25, and then Donohue (10 kills, 17 digs, four aces) ended it on her third swing.
“When the points are going back and forth, it gets so nerve-wracking and you just want to finish it as fast as possible,” Wagner said. “But when you have those swings where they keep getting it up, because Soley Rodriguez Martinez is an amazing player so the cross shots are hard, you have to think about where you can tip it and where you can place the ball smartly to get those points.”
The third set was mostly back-and-forth with Donohue getting some early kills for the Tigers while Dubuisson had some big swings for the Bulldogs. With the game tied at 13 apiece, Sean Raymond dropped a roll shot on the second ball and McDonough had consecutive aces. Kenny added a big kill from the middle and freshman Lyla Yurrita came through with a block to put the Tigers up 19-16.
Brooke Connor answered with a kill after a strong pass from Melanie McDonough, a long rally ended in favor of the Bulldogs, and back-to back errors from OA had Canton in front. OA got a kill from Wagner, but Connor came through again with two good swings. For the final two points, Canton senior setter Erin Bigham took over. She froze the OA defense with a perfect dump on the second touch to get within a point, and as a front row player, she went up and swung at the second ball for a kill to close it out and force a fourth.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the way the kids rallied after that second set,” said Canton head coach Pat Cawley. “I mean, I think we came in confident that we could do better than we had done against them during the regular season. We’re a lot better team than we were, but the nerves showed for us in the first two sets. And it would have been easy just to lie down and get out of here. But they fought tooth and nail the whole time in the third and fourth set. We were right there with them in that fourth set and it could have gone either way. And then you go into five and you never know. But I’m really proud of them. They really worked hard out there.
“[Oliver Ames] is an amazing team and their hitters hit the ball hard. All of the kudos to them. They’re a great team. The same kids pretty much went to the finals last year and they got another year [next year]. But I’m really proud of my kids who, everybody except for Soley and Erin, are pretty new at what they were doing. And I think that’s why we had such a slow start. I think the nerves set in and the confidence wasn’t there. But I really couldn’t be prouder and that’s all I can say to them. It hurts in the moment, but at least we know that we went home swinging.”
Rodriguez Martinez anchored Canton’s defensive effort with another stellar performance in the back row with 27 digs to go along with three kills. Bigham — one of the best players in Canton history, and arguably the more versatile setter the Hockomock League has seen in two decades — closed out her career with 30 assists, 17 digs, and four kills.
“I can’t say enough about Erin…a four-year starter, she has barely come off the court in four years,” Cawley said. “A six position player, she’s a leader, she’s calm. I think that’s one of her biggest attributes is her calmness on the court. She tries to keep those around her calm.
Every skill set she’s very good at. She’s not only a great setter, she’s a good blocker, she’s an excellent defensive player. She has some offense to her game. She’s a very good server. I’ve never had a setter younger than a junior pretty much. I’ve never had a setter that is so strong in all skill sets and such a hard worker. Kids come and they go, but we’re going to feel the sting of Erin leaving for sure.”
OA set the tone early in the match, winning seven of the first nine points. Canton clawed its way into it, including a perfectly placed tip from Brynn Connor, to pull within 11-7. But the Tigers took control from there — Kenny denied the Dogs twice with blocks, Donohue and Wagner had back-to-back kills, and then Kenny came back with two more blocks and a kill to close out the first set, 25-10.
The second set played out similarly. The Tigers used a 6-0 run early, highlighted by a kill from Yurrita and two aces from Kenny, to create some separation. Canton got back into it with some key plays from Brooke Connor and another timely play from Bigham as the Bulldogs pulled within 15-11. But it was another 6-0 run from OA — a block and kill from Kenny after strong defense from libero Molly Milliken, an ace from Donohue, and a block from Romeiro — that sent the Tigers to a 25-15 win in the second set.
“I said it’s a feat in itself to play the same team three times,” Cunningham said. “We know the opponent, we know what to expect, but it doesn’t matter. [Canton] is still gonna try their best, they’re still gonna give their best game to us. And having to come here again for them, that must have been ten times as hard. So I give them all the credit to show up and play because they really did.”
“I said to my team, this is it guys, this is your last home game. How do you want to remember it? And then they took over from there.”
Oliver Ames (23-0) will face a familiar foe in the Division 2 state semifinals in King Philip (16-7). The date, time, and location has yet to be announced.
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