Young Wildcats Take Step with Win over Mount Greylock
LEE, Mass. – Claire Davis knows just how important Tuesday’s four-set win over Mount Greylock can be for the Lee High volleyball team.
“I think it means a ton for our team, because we’re a fairly young team,” said Davis, one of just two seniors for the Wildcats. “We lost six seniors last year.
“And getting this win, for us, is a builder. We keep building the entire season. I’m just really proud of this win and proud of how far our team has come and excited for more.”
Davis, a libero, pulled up 24 digs and served nine aces in Lee’s 25-14, 24-26, 25-19, 25-18 win, which, a second straight victory that put Lee over the .500 mark and avenged a four-set loss to Mount Greylock back on Sept. 5.
Her classmate Alexis Masten had a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs.
Lee coach Julia Warner said Davis’ and Masten’s contributions go beyond the stat sheet.
“They’ve been excellent leaders in so many ways,” Warner said. “They show leadership not only on the court in their work ethic and their skills, but also off the court. They’re wonderful kids. It’s a pleasure to have them on the team.”
Junior Hannah Achurra led Lee in kills with 11 and recorded 18 digs, and sophomore Kassidy Clark directed the Wildcat offense with 24 assists.
Mount Greylock got 14 kills from Olivia Perez. Tyanna Lepicier had seven kills, and Kimora Melanson and Elise States each put away six points.
But the Mounties, who have lost four of their last six matches, went into a hole out of the gate after long service runs by Lee’s Kayla Clark and Davis in the first set.
Clark served five straight points to give the Wildcats a 12-9 lead before States’ kill gave the Mounties a side out.
A couple of side outs later, Davis got the ball and served eight straight points – three on aces – to give her team a 22-13 lead.
“We’re such a small team,” Davis said. “We don’t have a lot of height. So something our coaches drill into us is: Get really, really good serves. It’s something we do a ton in practice.
“And getting those leads is crucial.”
Neither team got more than a three-point lead in a back-and-forth second set until Masten's ace put Lee up, 22-18.
But Mount Greylock rallied from there, outscoring the Wildcats, 8-2, the rest of the way.
The tide turned on the serve of Anna Garnish, who got the ball with her team down, 23-20, and served three straight points: a Kiera Kristensen block, an ace and a Kaleigh Jaros kill, to tie the set.
An Achurra kill gave Lee a side out, but Mount Greylock’s Perez put down a kill to make it 24-24 and give the serve to Jaros, who ended up closing the set with an ace.
But Lee seized the momentum right back, getting six saves on Kassidy Clark’s serve to open the third set and never surrendering the advantage.
The fourth set was a repeat. Four straight points on Kassidy Clark’s serve early gave Lee a 5-0 lead, and although the Mounties did pull within a point at 6-5, the visitors could never get over the hump.
Mount Greylock coach Greg Geyer said his Mounties (5-5) are getting used to some new roles as the team heads into the stretch run of the regular season.
“We have nine players who are new to their role or varsity, and we just changed our lineup because it’s more effective overall,” he said. “They’re being aggressive, but it just didn’t work out today. We’re going to learn from every swing. … Our job is to get better every day, and that’s what we’re doing.
“We’ve been practicing different lineups all year. They all can play different positions. … We work it out together, and we’re getting ready for playoffs.”
Geyer believes his team will be well tested from a regular season that includes a number of strong tests in the county.
“It’s just a super competitive league,” he said. “We’ve now split with several teams, and we hope to split with several others. … We went five with Wahconah, we went five with Taconic. Every match is a tough match, and hats off to Lee tonight.”
Lee’s Warner was happy to see her team pass another test as it improves to 6-5 this fall.
“I think a lot of growth has been had between the first week of our season and now,” she said. “We played Wahconah last week, and we lost in five [sets] instead of four. That was a small growth. This [match] is another measurement of growth, winning against a team we lost to earlier in the season.
“We’re working together really hard. Every day, they get into the gym and work really hard for each other.”
Lee is at Pittsfield on Thursday. Mount Greylock is home on Friday night against unbeaten Lenox.