Mounties Hand Lenox its First Loss

LENOX, Mass. – It took 11 months, but Olivia Perez’ 11 kills helped the Mount Greylock volleyball team get the revenge it was waiting for.

 

Perez led a dominant front line effort for the Mounties on Wednesday in a 25-23, 25-22, 25-15 win over Lenox.

 

The victory helps take a little of the sting out of last October’s 3-0 loss to the Millionaires in the finals of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament.

 

“It was one of the main things I was focusing on,” Perez said of last year, when the Mounties went 1-2 in three meetings against Lenox in a 12-7 campaign. “We all need motivation. We really gain energy from motivation. That game, obviously, wasn’t the outcome we wanted. So rather than letting that get us down, we took that into today’s game.”

 

Perez and Kimora Melanson had four blocks apiece. Tyanna Lepicier and Ceclia Keough each had seven kills in the win.

 

Perez also passed out numerous assists and served three aces on a night when she did a little of everything and a lot of some things while never taking off a point.

 

“She typically doesn’t [come off the floor],” Mount Greylock coach Faith Wehner said. “She hits from the front row and sets for me from the back row.

 

“She’s just such a reliable player. She can do whatever I need her to do. I mean, she’s not a setter by nature, but she sets very well, and she’s willing to do whatever she has to do for the team. So you’ve got to love that.

 

“She’s a really good team player.”

 

And Perez came up big when the first set was hanging in the balance late.

 

A side out got the serve to Mount Greylock’s Kaleigh Jones with Lenox ahead, 23-22.

 

Perez delivered kills for two straight points and a block on set point to put the Mounties ahead in the match, 1-0.

 

The team then rode that momentum into the second set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead on Jaros’ serve and, eventually, going ahead, 15-5 on four straight points on Perez’ serve – the last one a kill by Keogh.

 

“I completely think [the end of the first set] gave us some momentum,” Wehner said. “We’re a team that has a hard time getting going. Once we get going, we do great. But we have a hard time picking it up at the beginning of a game.

 

“So going into that second set with the energy from the first set – and then even going from the second to the third, it really carries over for us.”

 

A Perez kill gave Mount Greylock a 21-12 lead in the second set before Lenox generated a little momentum of its own.

 

Amaya Alger served four straight points – two of which the Mounties could not get back over the net – to narrow the margin to four points at 21-17.

 

A few side outs later, Evelyn Julieano got an ace to get her team within three and one another point before Caroline Callahan’s tip got the serve back for the Mounties with a 24-21 lead.

 

Two points later, Lepicier’s kill made it a 2-0 match.

 

Mount Greylock did not miss the opportunity to get a sweep, taking control of the third on two five-point service runs. The first, from Haydn Derby, saw Melanson and Leipicier get kills to help push the lead to 14-8.

 

The second, on Jaros’ serve, featured a pair of blocks from Perez to help open up a 20-9 margin.

 

Lenox’s last gasp came in the form of a Julieano kill and an ace from Olivia Ackerman that got the Millionaires within eight at 23-15. But a Keogh kill gave Mount Greylock a side out, and a Lepicier kill ended the night.

 

Lenox will end the regular season at Mount Greylock when the teams hook up in Williamstown on Oct. 20.

 

Between now and then, Lenox coach Karalynn Hopkins hopes to use the lessons learned on Wednesday.

 

“I think this loss was extremely important for us, especially for the post-season,” Hopkins said. “We now recognize our weaknesses and what we need to work on when we have teams who can generate offense. Because we have not faced a single team that has generated any offense toward us.

 

“Seeing that, I, as a coach, I see a lot of holes that we need to work on. And I am excited that we faced this about halfway through the season, because we get half a season to fix it.”

 

Lenox (6-1) is home again on Friday night against Mohawk Trail.

 

Mount Greylock (5-2) is home on Friday against Vermont’s Mount Anthony Union.