Taconic Bows Out Against Salem

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Salem volleyball team Thursday overcame a three-point deficit late in the third set to earn a 27-25 win and a 3-0 sweep of Taconic in the preliminary round of the Division 3 State Tournament.

 

The 34th-seeded Witches move on to face No. 2 Old Rochester in the Round of 32 after taking a 25-20, 25-18, 27-25 win.

 

No. 31 Taconic never led by more than two points in the first two sets and trailed, 14-8, in the third after Gueladio Bah’s ace gave Salem a six-point advantage.

 

That’s when Taconic coach Lance Fyfe called his first timeout of the set.

 

“I said to the team that it was ‘Gracie Time’ and we needed to focus on the basics of passing to the target zone so that Kiara [Burston] could easily put up some nice sets to Gracie [Cormier],” Fyfe said. “I reminded Gracie that a great place to put/tip the ball was down the line where she had been successful earlier in the match. I also told her that if she was up in the air and the ball was in the right place, just go ahead and annihilate it.”

 

After the timeout by the Thunder it rallied, earning a sideout and immediately picking up three points on Mollie Crawford’s serve to get back within two points at 14-12.

 

Salem pulled ahead by five after a kill from Jenna Phelps, but a Cormier kill on the next point gave Kirara Burston the serve with the Thunder down, 18-14.

 

Burston served the next five points, using an ace and a kill from Aurora Rose-DeMarco to even the set at 18-18 before the Witches could get a side out.

 

Two side outs later, Cormier went to the service line and delivered two aces in a three-point run that gave Taconic a 22-19 lead – its biggest margin in any set all night.

 

Salem earned a couple of points in its serve in the next two rotations, and it appeared to get match point on another Phelps kill with the teams tied at 24. But the Witches were called for a net violation on the play, and Taconic instead served for the set.

 

It was not to be, though. Salem won the next three points, the final one on a kill by Phelps to end the match.

 

Cormier led Taconic with nine kills. Burston had a big night statistically with 19 assists, eight digs and seven aces to go with a pair of kills. Isla DiMassimo led the defense with 18 digs, and Frances Macioge finished with 10 digs.

 

The Thunder played uphill much of the night and, as it did in the third set, it made a run in the first that kept things competitive.

 

After a four-point run on Shaniah Ozuna’s serve helped Salem build an 11-7 advantage, a Rose-DeMarco kill gave Taconic a side out, and Macioge served four points in a row to retake the lead at 12-11.

 

It was still a tie match at 18-18 after Burston’s kill. But Lucy Gardner got a kill for the visitors to regain the serve, and Callie L’Italien served three straight points to make it 22-18, Salem. Taconic got within two  on an ace from Cormier, but Salem closed out the set.

 

The second set saw Salem take the lead for good when Jazzelle Lopes won three points on her serve, the last an ace to make it 13-9. The Witches then stretched their lead a little at a time to finally take the set by a seven-point margin.

 

“They’re a good team,” Fyfe said of Salem. “They played really well against us. They had some height. They’re blocking. They’re controlling the ball.

 

“We did, too. It’s just, obviously, we made more mistakes than they did, I guess.”

 

Taconic finishes the season with a record of 13-8 after going 4-2 in its last six matches.

 

“It’s hard for our seniors,” Fyfe said of the season coming to an end. “I see some of them in tears. It’s really hard. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye tonight. We don’t have any more practices. I love these kids.”

 

The bulk of the 2026 roster does have more practices – starting in August 2027.

 

“We’ve come a long ways,” Fyfe said. “We do have a young team with three sophomores on varsity. I’m proud of what they’ve become over the season. They’ve worked well together, and we’ve improved a lot as a team. We’ve put some things together, and I hope to keep it going.

 

“But I will definitely miss these four seniors [DiMassimo, Rose-DeMarco, Jill Koomson and Payton Haecker]. One of the hardest parts about the whole season is this and tryouts, cutting people. There’s nothing harder than those two things.”