Wahconah Tops Taconic in Western Mass Semis

DALTON, Mass. – No team in Berkshire County this fall has played in more five-set matches or won more five-set matches than the Taconic Thunder.

 

So after dropping the third set of Thursday’s Western Massachusetts Class B semi-final, Wahconah was well advised to end things in the fourth.

 

Wahconah did just that after Emma Jacinto and Taea Cunagin delivered long service runs to build a nine-point lead in an eventual 25-13 win to seal the deal and send their team to a second straight regional final.

 

Jacinto had 14 kills and five aces, and Cunagin delivered 12 kills and four aces in a 25-19, 25-16, 19-25, 25-13 win.

 

Second-seeded Wahconah (14-6) will have a chance to defend its 2024 Western Mass Championship on Saturday at Chicopee High when it takes on No. 1 East Longmeadow.

 

After losing the first two sets in Thursday’s semi-final, Taconic got off the mat in a third set that saw Aliyah DelSonno and Ella Stodden deliver big service runs.

 

The Thunder carried the momentum into the set No. 4, but Wahconah was able to turn things around.

 

“We didn’t let it get to us,” Jacinto said. “The music between sets really helps pump us up, gets us ready for the next set. We didn’t let it get to us. We communicated more. We just had to trust each other, because we know we’re a good team and we can work together well.”

 

Wahconah coach Dave Lussier was not surprised to see his team’s 2-0 match lead turn to 2-1.

 

“It’s almost all the time it seems, after you win the first two that the third set, no matter what you say in between sets about a letdown, a letdown can happen,” Lussier said. “The other team can be energized because they don’t want to go home in three. And [Taconic] showed a lot of excitement through the rallies.

 

“You just have to weather that. We’ve lost that third set, but they came out strong the fourth set. They really wanted to play well and not have to go five. I’ve been telling them all week, it’s very hard to play against a talented team and win three times in a season. I’m very proud that they were able to be successful three times against them.”

 

Wahconah won the first two meetings by scores of 3-0 and 3-1.

 

Taconic (10-10) pushed its hosts hard in the first set of meeting No. 3.

 

Sophie Aubin (24 digs, five aces) got a pair of kills from DelSonno (seven kills, 11 digs) in a five-point run to give Taconic a 13-8 lead midway through the set.

 

Wahconah chipped away up a point on each of its next five serves, eventually taking a lead on a kill by Alex Rougeau (nine kills, three digs, two aces).

 

“Her play was awesome,” Lussier said. “Her vertical was really good tonight. She was getting up above the net. They always have trouble with her serving. She’s a very consistent server. She missed a couple tonight, but that’s OK, they were aggressive serves. We don’t mind those.”

 

Madison Judson (seven digs) served three points, including a Jacinto kill, to get the score to 22-18, and after a couple of side outs, Julianna Bourassa closed out the set with two points, including one of her two aces.

 

Rougeau served five points early in the second set to give Wahconah a 6-1 lead, and Taconic never got closer than two points the rest of the way.

 

A kill by Cunagin gave Wahconah an 11-8 lead, and she served three in a row, including two aces, to make it a six-point margin. Taconic did not get closer than four points the rest of the set as Wahconah went ahead, 2-0.

 

In the third set, DelSonno took the ball with her team down, 13-11, and served it to an 18-13 lead before Wahconah earned a side out.

 

In the run, Gracelyn Cormier and Stodden (15 assists, 13 digs) each had a kill, and Stodden had a block to make it a five-point margin.

 

Later in the set, Angelese Ward-Green (six kills) combined with Stodden on a block in Stodden’s five-point run to end it and force set No. 4.

 

“Blocking is something that we’ve been working on a lot lately,” Taconic coach Lance Fyfe said. “We knew we were gonna need a lot of blocking coming in to play Wahconah with Taea [Cunagin] and Emma [Jacinto]. They’re just powerful, consistent. We knew that’s what we were up against. We worked on it in practice.

 

“We did the best we could, really. I’ve got a couple of girls who didn’t play tonight who are great blockers, but I felt that we needed the defense as well. So I had a more well-rounded player on the court over a blocking specialist. I question myself sometimes. Should I have popped her in and out? I don’t know.”

 

In the fifth set, Jacinto gave her team an early 9-4 lead with a six-point run that included a couple of kills by Cunagin. Cunagin’s six-point run pushed the lead to 17-7. And Wahconah never looked back.

 

Now it looks ahead to a rematch against East Longmeadow, a 3-0 winner when the teams met back on Sept. 17.

 

“You have your good games, and you have your bad ones, and we’ve had those all through the season where we probably didn’t perform in the way we wanted to or expected to,” Lussier said of the loss to the Spartans. “Against East Longmeadow, our serving game just wasn’t there like it was tonight. We had a lot of errors there. … They have really good servers, and we’ve been working on our passing, knowing we would have an aggressive attack from Taconic tonight, and that will help us prepare for Saturday.”