ORANGE — The Mahar girls volleyball team overcame a furious comeback attempt by Southwick – among other things – to win its Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament first-round match, 3-2, Friday night.
During the match, Aria Flematti had to exit to vomit, Ava Santana was playing with a fresh case of strep throat and Carissa Johnson could not serve because of a shoulder injury.
“A lot of our players did really well considering what went on,” Mahar coach Sarah Woodward said. “Ava played really well. Carissa’s not serving right now. Aria went to the bucket in the fifth set.”
Flematti had 24 assists for the Senators, while Santana added nine kills and three aces.
After taking a 2-0 lead fairly easily against the 11th-seeded Rams, the No. 6 Senators let the lead slip away.
“Some people just can’t pick themselves back up after making mistakes,” Woodward said. “We did not do a good job serve receiving then everything gets flustered.”
Things settled down in the fifth set when Kassidy Thompson’s serve gave Mahar the lead it didn’t relinquish.
Set scores were 25-15, 25-13, 22-25, 20-25 and 15-13.
Mahar advanced to the quarterfinals to play at No. 3 Mount Greylock on Monday.
“It’s going to take a lot to beat Greylock,” Woodward said. “They have a great volleyball team. We have to get there early and get ourselves situated. It’s a long bus ride. It’s a tough gym to play in.
Jordyn Berry led Mahar with 10 kills.
Lauren Henne hurt Southwick with her serve, recording 14 aces and adding nine digs to lead the defense for Mahar.
The Senators jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set, leading to a Southwick timeout. The Rams called another timeout down 17-8 to the quick-starting Senators.
A Hailie Meeker (five kills) kill put away the Rams in the second set. The set was tied 9-9 before the Senators pulled away.
Mahar let a 20-13 lead slip away in the third.
A energized Southwick team jumped out to an 9-3 lead to help take the fourth set.
