TURNERS FALLS — Come the fall season these days, the Powertown is a volleyball town.
Third-seeded Turners Falls continued its impressive 2021 campaign Tuesday night, sweeping No. 6 Mohawk Trail, 25-12, 25-10, 25-14, in the quarterfinal round of the Western Mass. Class D Tournament.
The Thunder (16-1) will play on the road at No. 2 Mount Greylock in the semifinal round Thursday night.
“I think our team is prepared for this,” explained Turners senior Emily Young. “We have that mindset that it’s tournament time and hopefully we’re ready to go.”
Turners was certainly ready to go in Tuesday’s win. Young set the tone at the service line, where she amassed 11 aces to go with four kills, and the hosts made life difficult for the Warriors’ serve receive.
“The whole team kind of went through a rough serving spell earlier in the season but we’ve gotten better as the season has gone along,” Young said. “We rack up a lot of our points on aces.”
Visiting Mohawk Trail (10-6) pulled even at 7-7 in the opening set, but couldn’t stay with a balanced Turners Falls attack. Young and Madison Liimatainen keyed the charge in the opening set, and Taylor Greene served out the final five points to enable the hosts to pull away for a 25-12 victory.
“I thought we came to play,” offered Turners coach Kelly Liimatainen. “I was a little worried after our practice [Monday] but we came out and played pretty well. Our goal is to start fresh now that it’s the tournament.”
Young’s work at the service line was on full display in set No. 2, as she put down four consecutive aces to help the Thunder roll out to a quick 6-1 lead.
Abbigail Holloway took over and put down a kill and an ace on back-to-back plays, as Turners was never threatened in a 25-10 win.
The Warriors got a boost in the third set from Elly Patnode, who recorded a kill followed by an Alex Lilly ace that cut the deficit to 13-9. Another Young service run provided the cushion however, and Turners pulled away to seal the deal with a 25-14 third set win.
Greene finished with 17 assists, three aces and two kills for Turners, while Liimatainen put down nine kills on the outside. Tatiana Carr-Williams added three kills and a block in an efficient night over the middle.
Lilly had four digs and an ace for the Warriors, while Octavia Crawford chipped in three kills, six assists and three blocks. Palmer King totaled four kills and three assists, and Patnode notched a pair of kills.
Next up for Turners is a trip to Williamstown to play Mount Greylock. The teams didn’t meet during the regular season.
“I think our mindset now is to try and focus on what we do and not worry about what the other teams are doing,” Young said.
Both Turners and Mohawk Trail will compete in the MIAA Div. 5 state tournament, set to begin next week following the conclusion of the Western Mass. tourney.