Turners Falls Takes Class D Title from Lee
WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Lee volleyball team did not get what it came for at West Springfield High School on Saturday.
But it did valuable experience against a top opponent that the Wildcats can take into next week's state tournament.
Madi Liimatainen notched 16 kills in 24 attempts to lead the Turners Falls Thunder to a 25-10, 25-13, 25-13 win over the Wildcats in the Western Massachusetts Class D Championship game.
Lee coach Julia Warner, understandably, said she did not have a lot of positive things to say about how Saturday morning's match went.
But she is positive that her team can use it as an opportunity to grow.
"With every loss, there's some reflection and learning that happens," Warner said. "One of the things that's interesting about the way we've done this Western Mass tournament, pre-state tournament, is it gives them some high energy, high level play before we get to it down the road in our state tournament.
"Hopefully, this is something that we can just use and keep on moving, keep on going through."
Liimatainen put her mark all over the three-set win.
In the first set, her kill ignited a four-point run that gave Turners Falls its first sizable lead at 10-4.
In the second set, she won four points on her serve and delivered a kill that ignited a three-point run that got the Thunder to a 21-11 lead.
In the third set, she had a block to give her team a side out at 18-11 and won the next point with a kill. In fact, she had kills on four of Turners' last seven points to close out the match.
Turners Falls coach Kelly Liimatainen said that her star hitter has a complete set of tools that go beyond her powerful swing.
"She's not just a powerhouse hitter," the Thunder's coach said. "She's a great passer, a great server, just an all-around good player and good teammate. Yeah, she can hit the ball hard, and then she'll go with an offspeed to try to throw players off.
"She really likes to swing hard, though, and I have to be like, 'Let's go with a tip now. Let's go with a tip.' She gets mad because she really wants to kill the ball every time, but she's just an all-around great player and works hard for that."
Alexis Masten led Lee with seve kills. Autumn Schwab and Karalynn Hopkins pulled up nine and seven digs, respectively. And Juliana Schuerer passed out 12 assists in the loss.
Lee's next opponent will be determined on Monday when the MIAA announces the brackets for the state tournaments in volleyball.