Mount Greylock Pulls Away Late in Sweep of Lee

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – After handling Lee in the first two sets and building a five-point lead midway through the second, the Mount Greylock volleyball team found itself in a little bit of a tussle on Tuesday night.

 

The Wildcats’ Kassidy Clark served four straight points to get her team within a point at 13-12.

 

But that’s when the Mounties’ Olivia Perez took over.

 

After a kill from Tyanna Lepicier gave the hosts a side out, Perez had a tip at the net for a point in a two-point run for Kaleigh Jaros that stretched the lead to 16-12.

 

Then, two side outs later, Perez delivered a kill to make it 18-14. Moments later, she had a block to make it 20-15.

 

Then Perez had another tip to get Mount Greylock the serve at 21-16.

 

And then she served out the match, getting a kill from Cecelia Keogh to get things started before delivering three straight serves Lee could not return to secure a 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 win.

 

“I think she’s such a force on that front line, and, also, she really holds it down setting as well,” Mount Greylock coach Faith Wehner said. “I think, as far as the team goes, she really holds them together mentally. She’s a great leader for the team, both skill-wise and just leadership-wise, mental-wise. She does a great job.”

 

Perez finished with seven kills and six aces as Mount Greylock improved to 2-0 to start the season.

 

Lepicier led the Mounties with nine kills and 15 digs to go with four aces. Keogh had five kills, and libero Haydn Derby pulled up five digs.

 

Mount Greylock’s front line was the biggest difference against the Wildcats (1-3).

 

“I think one of the strongest parts of our game is our offensive line,” Wehner said. “I can count on any one of those hitters to get a kill for me at any time. Cece [Keogh] is great, Tyanna [Lepicier] is great, Caroline [Callahan] is great. They all really pull their weight on the front row.”

 

Anna Garnish gave the Mounties an early lead in the first set with a three-point service run to make it 10-3 on a Perez kill. Eventually, Mount Greylock led, 20-10, before Lee’s Samatha Warner got the ball and served five straight points to close to within five.

 

After a tip by Keogh gave Mount Greylock a side out, Garnish served three points to get to set point, and Keogh finished the set with a kill to take a 1-0 lead.

 

The second set started with a five-point run on Jaros’ serve, and Mount Greylock never looked back. It led by as many as 12 points late before Lee’s Hannah Achurra got a point out with a push and then served a couple of points, including an ace to make it 24-14, before Jaros ended the set for the Mounties.

 

Lee could have been discouraged going to the third set after losing by 11 in the second, but the Wildcats kept things close and nearly tied it up – encouraging signs for coach Isaiah Cole, who, like Wehner, is in his first year leading the program.

 

“I think the timeouts and them seeing how close they got in the end really kept them in,” Cole said. “And I have to keep their heads up when they’re down, obviously. And it’s a hard thing to do, but I’m getting better. Being a first-year coach, I’m getting better as we go.”

 

Coming off Lee’s fourth game in seven days, Cole said he is looking forward to the chance to get his team in the gym without an opponent on the other side of the net.

 

“I think we have a lot of things to go over,” he said. “It’s small things, but it’s things that we can get in two or three days. Everyone is amazing, but we just haven’t had time to practice because of the back-to-back-to-back games.

 

“But we’ll find time for everyone to get together, and we’ll talk about some things. After that, we’ll flow. We’ll flow for sure.”

 

Lee has one day to get ready for a visit from Wahconah on Thursday, but then has a few days to prepare for its Monday trip to Drury.

 

Mount Greylock will look to improve to 3-0 when it goes to Taconic on Thursday before closing the week with a non-league game at 2025 Division 2 semi-finalist Longmeadow.

 

Wehner said Mounties’ focus in the early going has been on their mindset going into matches.

 

“I think the biggest thing we’ve had to work on from last year is our mental game,” she said. “I think we cracked in that Western Mass [final] last year, and I think that was a lot to do with our mental game and not with our skill game.

 

“So, really, we’ve been working mentally on getting in the game fast, getting prepared for games – that aspect of the game as well as the skill part of the game.”

 

Photos from this match to come.