WEST SPRINGFIELD — Jalen Sullivan swung through the nerves.
The Frontier Regional senior has played on the girls volleyball team since her freshman year, but never played outside hitter in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 championship before. Playing for the program’s 15th straight sectional final weighed on Sullivan at times, but she channeled that energy into attacks.
“Lee was doing a really good job digging those easier balls, so I wanted to swing to end the point,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan finished with 12 kills, as the Red Hawks beat Lee, 3-0, on Saturday to win their 15th championship in a row. Sydney Scanlon set Sullivan when Frontier held match point, and Sullivan unleashed a cross-court spike that bounced off a Wildcat and hit the floor to clinch the match. Her teammates streamed off the bench to mob the starters, who embraced each other.
“I’m always like ‘get me the ball, I want it,’” Sullivan said. “It’s the best feeling in the world. It never gets old.”
Frontier (13-8) will face Advanced Math and Science (22-1) in the state semifinals Wednesday at Tantasqua. The Red Hawks lost to Bourne in last year’s state semifinals, but the Canalmen didn’t make the tournament in 2019.
“We’re looking at a lot of new teams in the semis,” Frontier junior Olivia Deane said. “Our sights are set on states, and we’re really motivated to get there. We’re not stopping here.”
Frontier started fast against the Wildcats (18-3). The Red Hawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the score tightened. Lee eventually took a 16-15 lead after a Frontier attack error. Then the Red Hawks ripped off a 10-1 run to win 25-17. Deane had seven of her game-high 21 kills during the set.
The second set was a dead heat until 17-17. The Red Hawks scored the next four points after a Lee service error, a Deane ace, a Lee attack error and a Sullivan kill that bounced off a Lee player’s face. Frontier closed the set 25-19.
“You get into a couple rotations where we served well and put the ball away,” said Frontier coach Sean MacDonald, who won his 351st career game. “That’s pretty much a formula to any volleyball success if you can side out and limit their serving runs and you make a couple two- or three-point runs over the course of a set you’ve got a really good chance.”
Lee led 7-6 in the third set, but Frontier wrested control away and finished the match 25-18 to defeat the Wildcats for the fifth year in a row in the final.
“Our passing was on, and when our passing is on our setters can get good sets and our hitters can just smack the ball down,” Deane said. “I think there were a lot of long rallies and both sides of the net were relentless. I would give a lot of credit to Lee because they made the rallies long and made it really hard.”
Frontier setters Olivia Rosewarne and Scanlon (11 digs) didn’t miss a beat as they rotated duties in the Red Hawks’ 6-2 system. Subbing the setters in and out of the game keeps them out of the front row so the players up there are taller and can block more effectively. They each finished with 16 assists, and Frontier hit .237 as team. Hitting percentage is calculated like a batting average, but errors are subtracted from kills and divided by attempts.
“We have a couple different wrinkles in there if we need it, we can,” MacDonald said. “They’ve done a nice job.”
The Red Hawks finished with 65 digs, led by 17 from Sullivan. Libero Reilly Isler added 14 and picked up a kill in the second set after her pass went back over the net while Lee was celebrating a point the Wildcats thought they clinched, and the ball landed in bounds. Liberos always play in the back row and can’t attack.
“It’s so rare,” Sullivan said. “They’re not supposed to do that.”
With title No. 15 in hand, the Red Hawks will turn their attention to another state crown. Advanced Math and Science defeated Whitinsville Christian 3-1 in the Central Mass. championship. The Eagles were the No. 1 seed in the Central tournament.
“I don’t have any information on them,” MacDonald said. “I need to find out what they do well and to crack that code.”