Lenox Tops Franklin Tech to Reach State Quarter-Final

LENOX, Mass. – Two sets into Monday’s Division 5 State Tournament playoff match, the Lenox volleyball team looked to be cruising into the quarter-finals.

 

And when the Millionaires hit a bump in the road, they got right back on course.

 

Leanne Maschino put down 11 kills to lead Lenox to a 25-11, 25-16, 25-16 win over Franklin Tech in the Round of 16.

 

It was Lenox’s second 3-0 win in two weeks over the Eagles, who the Millionaires topped in the Western Mass Class C semi-finals en route to a regional title.

 

And after nearly putting up two double-digit wins in the first two sets in the rematch, it appeared another sweep was in the cards.

 

But Franklin Tech reshuffled the deck thanks to a pair of aces in a five-point run by Emma Peterson to give the Eagles an 11-6 lead in the third. That is when Lenox coach Anna Nealon called her only timeout of the match.

 

“I think it was just really where we were set up in serve receive,” Nealon said. “I think we’d been used to them serving a little bit shorter or maybe less consistent than we expected. So when she started serving pretty deep, we just told our girls to change how they were set up on the court.

 

“Literally, the second we said that, they fixed it, and it was back to our game.”

 

Lenox got a side out at 11-7, and Emily Barenski served the next three points to trim the deficit to a point.

 

The teams then traded side outs until Maschino went to the service line with the set tied, 14-14.

 

She served the next six points – the last on a Brooklyn Rodriguez kill – to give the Millionaires a 20-14 lead, and they never looked back.

 

Barenski pulled up 10 digs and served four aces. Evelyn Julieano had nine digs and seven kills, and Clair O’Brien and Sara Isby finished with nine and seven kills, respectively.

 

Grace Julieano directed Lenox’s offense with 35 assists and also recorded six digs. She also had two big service runs to set the tone in the first two sets.

 

In Set 1, she took the ball with her team ahead, 14-9, and did not relinquish the serve until after giving the Millionaires a 23-9 lead. In the second set, she served first and spotted a Lenox a 6-0 lead it never relinquished.

 

“I think Grace and Emily [Barenski] practically mopped the floors today,” Nealon said. “They were all over the floor. Every ball that may or may not have been a perfect pass, they got up. They did such a phenomenal job.

 

“We had Leanne [Maschino], who this is her first year being an actual middle all the time – oh my God, phenomenal. She got three aces as a middle. That’s great.”

 

Monday marked Lenox’s eighth-straight win since losing to Mount Greylock, which is in the Round of 16 in the D4 State Tournament.

 

Nealon said it was good to see her team overcome a little adversity in the third set against the Eagles.

 

“I don’t want to say that they take it for granted, but it makes them know that they earned the win,” Nealon said. “It wasn’t given to them. They earned it. And they worked so hard to get it there.

 

“We did go into it knowing that we beat them 3-0 last week or the week before and thinking maybe we could underestimate them. But we knew we needed to show up with our ‘A’ game, and I think we did.”

 

The win moves fourth-seeded Lenox (20-1) one match away from the D5 state semi-finals. To get there, the Millionaires will have to get by either No. 5 Whitinsville Christian or No. 12 Calvary Chapel Academy, who meet on Tuesday evening.

 

The quarter-final will be played in Lenox on a date to be announced.