Barenski, Roberts Earn Athlete of the Week Honors

One of this week's iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Athletes of the Week helped deliver her team a Western Massachusetts Championship, and the other has his team on the brink of a regional crown.

 

Mount Greylock senior Kofi Roberts is tied for the team lead in goals with 13 for the 10-6-1 Mounties, who are in the Western Mass Class C final this week against Smith Vocational.

 

Roberts had an assist on the game-winner in the team's regional semi-final win on Saturday.

 

He scored a goal in the tournament opener three days earlier.

 

And in a home game that wrapped up a league title for Mount Greylock against Lenox in mid-October, Roberts lit up the scoreboard with five goals.

 

“Clearly, he’s one of our key playmakers, and three or four weeks ago, he started working on my challenge for him to really take the reins," Mounties coach Chris Kapiloff said of the captain after that performance.

 

Win or lose in this week's final, Mount Greylock is headed to the Division 4 State Tournament, new territory for a program that was bumped up from D5 for 2025.

 

Before Saturday's win, the Mounties were ranked 33rd in the state, which would mean a road game in the 32-team tournament's play-in round, but that could change by the time the final bracket is released on Saturday.

 

The Lenox volleyball team looks like a lock for at least two home games in the D5 State Tournament. The Millionaires were fifth in the in-state power rankings going into Saturday's Western Mass Final.

 

The question is whether a 3-0 win over defending regional champ Mount Greylock was enough to move Lenox up a rung and give it a chance to host a potential state quarter-final.

 

Lenox left no question who is the top dog in Class C of Western Mass after sweeping all three of its opponents in the regional tournament.

 

Saturday's final got off to an iffy start before Emily Barenski settled things down with a seven-point service run to turn an 12-8 deficit into a 15-12 lead.

 

"Emily, she's a great server, she really helps with our points," fellow senior Grace Julieano said after the win. "I think our team is really good at coming back from being down. We don't give up. We put all our effort in, and it's worth it."

 

Barenski, a libero, finished the title match with a team-high six aces and five assists to go with a team-high 13 digs as Lenox avenged back-to-back losses in the Class C final to Mount Greylock in 2023 and '24.

 

The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.