Was anyone surprised that co-coaches Sean MacDonald and Courtney Parent were able to take a group who had never played volleyball before and in just a few months turn them into Western Mass. champions?
With the success MacDonald and Parent have had with the Frontier girls volleyball team, it shouldn’t have been too much of a shock.
In the inaugural season of the Frontier boys volleyball program, the Redhawks went 16-3 while winning the Western Mass. Class C tournament and clinching a spot in the state tournament.
Frontier will look to build on that success, graduating six but still bringing a good chunk of its roster back from last year. The program’s coaches know that the bar was set high during the inaugural season.
“We haven’t talked about being the defending champs,” MacDonald said. “We’ve just been talking about how much work we need to do to smooth things out. It was a storybook first year. To take a team from scratch, go 16-3 and be competitive in every game, win the Western Mass. tournament and have a banner sitting in our gym now is awesome. That bar is high and it’ll be tough to repeat that every year but we have some really good pieces on this team.”
While the Redhawks have new players coming into the program, it has plenty of returning players where MacDonald and Parent aren’t starting with the basics like they did a year ago.
Still, with it being every player’s first or second year in the sport, there’s plenty of teaching going on at Goodnow Gymnasium. Frontier opened with Granby on Friday night.
“It’s a little less than last year but still not everyone knows rotations and all the positions on the floor,” Parent said. “There’s still some teaching but it’s not as fresh as it was last year. The returners are remembering things and picking things up fast. They show up and work hard. We’re looking good so far.”
Three seniors — Jesse Kurkolonis, Ngawang Deter and Asa Jackson — return from last year, with all three set to be featured this spring. Brady Burch, who helped lead Frontier’s soccer team to the Div. 4 semifinals this fall, is a new addition to the roster, showing well in his short time on the court.
Juniors Aleks Carey and Jack Carey will both play prominent roles with Frontier once again while Tavo Vincent-Warner returns as the Redhawks’ setter. Owen Babb, who stands at 6-foot-6, is another new addition the coaching staff is excited to work with.
“In a week or so we’ll look a lot smoother,” MacDonald said. “I like the group. We have a lot of options. We’ll start to solidify things and sort out the starting lineup and our depth pieces.”
What are the goals for a team that went into last spring with no expectations and had a season for the ages? To continue to grow, improve and show well in the state level, which is no easy feat in boys volleyball with just two divisions.
“We want to see how we can do in the MIAA tournament and see if we can win a game there and move on,” MacDonald said. “With only two divisions we’re in the same group as Westfield, Agawam, Ludlow and other really good schools that are three or four times our size. It’s not apples to apples. You look at our girls team, we’re in Division 5 and our only loss this year was to the Division 2 state champions. I’m proud that we have a small school that can compete with anyone in the state no matter how big they are. That’s something we’d like to move toward on the boys side, being able to punch above our weight.”
Nate Fisher inherits an Athol squad that is bringing back nearly its entire team from a year ago.
The Bears will have 14 players on varsity, with just two new to the sport. Fisher said he is hoping to be able to rotate the squad, making sure everyone is seeing time on the court.
“We want to make sure everyone plays,” Fisher said. “When you go from a sport like basketball where there are only five guys on the court at one time, this will be different. The games can go to five sets so we’ll try to get them in and out as much as possible.”
Holden Girouard and Ashan Santiago will be the two seniors on the Athol roster, both bringing leadership value.
Juniors Ray Castine, Colin Mason and Caleb LeBlanc all bring experience and will be players Fisher will rely on as he tries to bring an attacking style to the Bears.
“We have a lot of hitters,” Fisher said. “We want to play off that and be an attacking team in terms of offense. We want to be the most conditioned team on the court. I want to see strong communication out there. Those are the things I think that needed to be fixed from last year and we’re striving toward that.”
With bringing a good chunk of the roster back from a season ago, the Bears are hoping to improve off their three-win season. Fisher said he believes this is a squad that will be competing for spots in the postseason come late May.
“Coming off a three-win season, we’re hoping to get to and above the .500 mark this year,” Fisher said. “I think that’s something we’re capable of. A lot of the games we lost was us beating ourselves last year. We want to come together as a unit and play team volleyball. If we do that, good things are going to come. Making the Western Mass. and state tournament are things I think we can do.”