Pittsfield Volleyball Earns Western Mass Bid
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Cross town rivals Pittsfield and Taconic met Thursday evening for a volleyball match that not only meant bragging rights but also a spot in the Western Massachusetts Tournament as well.
Prior to Thursday's game the Generals of Pittsfield were searching for one more win to secure a spot in the tournament; Taconic needed two with two games left on its schedule.
After winning the first two sets by scores of 25-16 and 25-13, Pittsfield survived a back-and-forth battle in the third to prevail, 29-27, for a three-set win and a trip to the tournament.
"You have to love a match like that: cross town rivals, needing a win to get into Western Mass," Pittsfield coach Brian Lawton said. "It was a pretty even match throughout except in the second when Mivhaela LaBlanc took over with her serve."
LaBlanc had five aces in the second set to lead Pittsfield to the 25-13 win.
LeBlanc also came up huge for the Generals in the third set, recording seven kills to keep them in it.
"She just took over tonight, she couldn't miss," Lawton said.
After leading in the third, Taconic came back to tie it at 14; from there it was neck and neck as Taconic was trying to hold on at a chance for a tournament bid.
LaBlanc gave her team a 24-21 lead after hitting a kill and serving an ace; her next serve then went out of bounds, putting the score at 24-22.
The Generals then passed out of bounds, giving Taconic a point to trail them by one. Pittsfield called timeout.
Taconic came back out to tie it at 24, and then took the lead 25-24. The Generals did not back down.
"That's one of the things I was really proud of tonight, late in the game we went up and hit the ball hard, we had good sets and hit it hard, we didn't just try and hit it to get an easy point, we made the hard play with confidence," Lawton said. "That's a really good sign for our team. Earlier in the year I think we would have tried to tip the ball to a spot or something like that, so going up and hitting the ball hard in a pressure situation like that is really good for us."
It was tied two more times at 26 and 27; Pittsfield then took the lead 28-27 and won the set after a Taconic pass hit the net.
"I feel like the past four and five matched that we've had could be the best preparation," Lawton said about going into the tournament. "Our offense has really come together, we've got five strong hitters and we've never really had that and having strength from every position is really important."