Mount Greylock Tops Lenox in Five Sets on Senior Night
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The seeds for Mount Greylock's five-set, Senior Night win over Lenox were sown in the first set -- a set that the Millionaires ended up winning.
But it was the way the Mounties battled back from a 6-0 deficit to start the match and come within a point of tying the set late that propelled the hosts to a 21-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-14, 15-7 victory in the Mountie Dome.
Lucy Shepard had 11 kills and seven aces and Gabby Alvarez had 21 assists as they and classmate Julia Jammalo capped their senior season in style.
One of Shepard's kills came late in the first set to trim Lenox's lead to 21-20. Moments before, the Mounties got three straight points on the serve of Emma Hayward to cut into a five-point deficit and make it 17-15 on a block by Takiera Darrow (eight kills).
Shepard said that the late rally gave Mount Greylock momentum going to the second set.
"Yeah, definitely," she said. "I think, personally, that volleyball is such a mental game, especially on girls teams that tend to get down in the dumps a lot easier than guys do.
"So if you're able to rally with your team in a volleyball game when you're down 6-0, having that motivation is even better than having a lead, I think."
Mounties coach Greg Geyer agreed that the first-set comeback was a spark.
"Actually, I would look at it as that created a challenge," Geyer said. "We clawed our way back. And that gave us confidence all the way through.
"We were down six-zip. By the end it was [25-21], and as a coach, I just kept reminding them of that -- that we outplayed them, and they're a very good team. From pin to pin, from end line to end line, we were outplaying them, and they have some great, great hitters. They have probably the best hitter in the league, Kayanna Black, and they have a great team.
"It feels really good to take this one from them at home on Senior Night."
Shepard had two big service runs that were the difference in the second set.
The first time she went to the line, Lenox had a 5-4 lead. By the time she surrendered the serve, Mount Greylock was up 14-6.
She had three aces and a kill in the run, which saw the Millionaires call two timeouts before they were able to get a side out.
Later in the set, Shepard served three more points to get to set point at 24-14.
To Geyer, it was no surprise to see his seniors step up on their big night.
"Right now, this time of year, they're finding the whole combination," he said. "They're great leaders, they're smart players. They're very good players. At one point, it seemed like Lucy was unstoppable as a hitter.
"And Julia [Jammalo] has played several different roles for us -- never outside. And she comes in and plays outside and plays great as a senior."
After losing the second set handily, Lenox bounced back to take the third.
It was 10-10 when Black recorded back-to-back kills to give Lenox a lead it never relinquished. Three straight points on the serve of Maddy Barenski got the margin to 14-10, and the Mounties got as close as one point just one more time.
Black came up big in the set on her way to an 18-kill night. Fellow senior Kristin Miller had five kills to go with a pair of aces and a pair of digs, and Barenski had 26 assists.
Set point in the third came on a point where the Mounties appeared to earn the point to get to 19-24. but Mount Greylock (12-6) was called for crossing the net, confusing the players and fans giving Lenox a 2-1 lead and a chance to get its second win of the season over its North County rival.
"We just kind of put our heads together and said: We've got to persevere through it," Jammalo said. "It's tough. But we knew that when we all come together and play our best, we can do anything."
The highlight of the fourth set was a five-point run on the serve of Mount Greylock junior Emma Hayward, who had four aces in the run that built a 16-7 lead before she gave up the serve.
Alvarez later had a four-point run to give Mount Greylock a commanding 23-10 lead.
Barenski battled with three straight points to get Lenox within nine, but Mount Greylock's Celina Savage notched a block to get sideout and set point, and Alyssa Phelps (six aces, four digs) served the final point for the Mounties.
Mount Greylock freshman Lainey Gill (two aces, five digs) served four straight points to give Mount Greylock a commanding 8-3 lead in the race to 15.
Shepard had an ace in a three-point run a couple of rotations later to make it 12-4. For such an entertaining, well-played match, match point came, anticlimactically, on a service error into the net, touching off a wild celebration for the Mount Greylock players and the vocal student section that turned out to support them.
"I just love my team so much, and I'm so grateful that we all just work together as a team and won this game," Alvarez said as the party continued behind her. "I love them so much."
Asked the difference between Thursday and Mount Greylock's loss in Lenox earlier this season, Alvarez answered without hesitation.
"We had Lucy," she said of fellow senior Shepard. "Lucy wasn't there the first time we played them."
As the team's quarterback, Alvarez' relationship with Shepard fuels the Mounties' offense.
"We've been playing together since seventh grade," Alvarez said. "We've always been really good teammates and worked together. It just comes naturally to us now.
"It's sad [to think about graduation] But we've had a great run all these years together. So I'm super happy to have her on my team and to have played with her."