Lee Cannot Get Past Rough Start in Class D Final

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Lee High volleyball team won just four points on its serve in the first set of Saturday’s Western Massachusetts Class D Championship Game.

 

The Wildcats spent the rest of the afternoon showing they’re capable of so much more.

 

In the end, top-seeded Renaissance got out with a 25-10, 15-25, 22-25, 25-11 win. But Lee walked away with the knowledge that it can hang with one of the best Division 5 teams in the state.

 

“I always let them know what they’re capable of,” Lee coach Isaiah Cole said. “Everyone has their own job.

 

“And, really, we haven’t [played] a really good team like this in a while. I think the first two teams we played [in the Western Mass tournament], it went by really quick. We didn’t really know what to work on because we had more fun with the two games instead of looking at it more as a competition. 

 

“I think that’s what got us today. Maybe a little not prepared on my end.”

 

The Phoenix, currently ranked fourth in D5 in the latest MIAA in-season power rankings, got four serve runs of three points or more to take control in the first set.

 

The first came on the serve of Alandra Flores, whose ace gave Renaissance a 5-1 lead. Lee never got any closer thanks to big runs from Kelly Tousignant, Melanie Washington and Alana Flores, who got the Phoenix to set point at 24-8.

 

After a side out, Lee made a little stand thanks to kills from Kassidy Clark and Madison Heath. But Renaissance got a kill from Tousignant to end the set with a 15-point margin.

 

It was a different story in the second set, where Lee kept things close early, getting an 11-9 lead on an ace from Kayla Clark.

 

After a couple of side outs, Kassidy Clark served three straight points to build the margin to five points. A pair of aces from Heath moments later made it 18-11, and Lee maintained control from there.

 

Hannah Achurra put down a kill in a three-point run on Eleny Guzman’s serve that got the Wildcats two points away from closing out the set, and moments later, Lee did just that with a kill from Heath.

 

Achurra finished with a double-double, putting down 10 kills and pulling up 12 digs. Kayla Clark and Guzman recorded 21 and 14 digs, respectively. Heath notched nine kills, and Kassidy Clark directed Lee’s offense with 13 assists.

 

The game’s best set was the third, where Lee led late, 18-17, before the Phoenix’s Naima Wilson served three aces in a five-point run to put her team on top, 23-18.

 

Cole said serve receive is one of the areas the Wildcats will work on as they get ready for the state tourney.

 

“But, putting my trust in them, they can do it,” he said. “It’s about me and my part and me helping them mentally get over that little hump of, ‘Coach, I can’t get a ball up. What do I do?’ Let the ball come to you, stay low.”

 

Washington turned in the night’s longest service run for either team to help Renaissance take control in the fourth. She went to the service line with there team ahead, 6-3, and delivered the next seven points, the last on an ace, to open up a 10-point margin.

 

Lee then went point-for-point through 12 changes of serve before it came back to Washington, who ended the match with four straight points, the last an ace.

 

The Wildcats (9-9) started Saturday as the 11th-ranked team in the commonwealth in the latest Division 5 rankings. The top 16 teams will be home in the tournament’s first round when the seedings are announced on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Photos from this match to come.