Mounties Go Back to Western Mass Final
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Tyanna Lepicier dominated at the net on Wednesday as the Mount Greylock volleyball team battled to a four-set win over Smith Vocational in the semi-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament.
Lepicier recorded a team-high 13 kills for the second-seeded Mounties in a 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 25-12 win.
Mount Greylock (11-5) will go for its fourth straight regional title on Saturday when it meets the winner of Thursday’s match between No. 1 Lenox and No. 5 Franklin Tech.
Lepicier, who has been among the team leaders in kills and has led the way in digs all season, was a force against the third-seeded Vikings.
“Tyanna had a huge night,” Mount Greylock coach Greg Geyer said. “It started in the second set, and then she was incredibly reliable. She had 13 kills. I’m sure she had the most digs on the team. She had two aces.
“She plays great all the way around. And then when she starts hitting the ball from everywhere, it’s just a great thing to see.”
It took four sets, though, for Mount Greylock to shake Smith Voc, which built a 16-9 lead in the first set.
That set turned when Anna Garnish got the ball at the service line with her team down, 16-10.
She did not give up the serve until the match was tied. Her six-point run included five of her team-high seven aces.
“Anna is one of our top servers,” Geyer said. “And we had to take somebody out of serving when we changed the lineup to make she served in the top [of the rotation]. She’s serving great. She’s moving the ball around. And then she comes in and passes really well and plays great defense.”
The Vikings righted the ship after Garnish’s run and even took leads of 20-18 and 21-19.
But a kill by Lepicier gave Mount Greylock a side out down, 21-20, and libero Hayden Derby served two points to give her team a one-point lead.
Eventually the serve came around to Kaleigh Jaros with the score tied, 23-23, and she served out the set, getting a kill by Olivia Perez (11 kills) to deliver set point.
Mount Greylock could not capitalize on the momentum, though. A four-point run on Ednaliz Cruz’ serve gave the Vikings an 11-7 lead in the second set. And an ace from Heidymar Diaz Lopez helped push the margin to 20-14 late. The Vikings traded side outs from there to take the set and even the match, 1-1.
The Mounties built a seven-point margin when a Garnish ace made it 20-13 in the third set, but the Vikings pulled back to within 22-19 when Diaz Lopez served three in a row before Geyer’s timeout stemmed her momentum. Smith Voc was able to get within two points late, but Mount Greylock closed out the set to go ahead, 2-1.
The fourth set was reminiscent of some of Mount Greylock’s dominant runs in past Western Mass tourneys. Four straight points on Lepicier’s serve gave her team a 4-0 lead, and when the serve came back to her, she served five more – getting a couple of aces and a Perez block along the way – to make it 19-9.
The Vikings called timeout, and Geyer took the opportunity to remind his team not to let their foot off the gas.
“I said, ‘We know we’re young. We know we like to have fun,’ but … we know that we need to play like it’s 19-all,” Geyer said.
Smith Voc got a little life after a side out with three straight points … but those points did not stay on the board.
After the Vikings’ coach notified the refs that her team served out of rotation and after a lengthy delay by the officials to make sure they got things right, they switched the score from 20-13 to 21-10.
An ace by Perez helped the Mounties get to match point, and a tip at the net by Kimora Melanson sealed the deal.
“I’m ecstatic,” Geyer said. “When I set a goal for this year, it was to get to the Western Mass final. And we’ve been to the final now five times in a row.
“I’m incredibly proud of this team, a really young team. They’ve grown a ton, and it’s kind of like we’re in bonus now. There’s tough teams in this tournament. Whoever we play on Saturday is going to be a tough match. And we just appreciate that we’re there.”