If the Frontier volleyball team is going to win an unprecedented 11th state championship Friday night, the Redhawks are going to have to overcome their share of adversity.
Those challenges start on the other side of the net. No. 17 Paulo Freire of Chicopee presents a bit of an unknown for second-seeded Frontier in the MIAA Division 5 final, as the two programs have never played.
The match is slated for 6:30 p.m. at West Springfield High School.
Yes, it’s an all-Western Mass. state final, but the Panthers, who are 24-0 on the season, are largely an enigma. No doubt that’s played to their benefit during a dominant state tournament run. Paulo Freire hasn’t dropped a single set in four straight postseason wins, and the club has defeated several top sides including No. 1 Hopedale in the Round of 16 and No. 4 Bourne in the semifinals. In fact, the Panthers haven’t lost a single set all season — that would be 72 straight for those keeping score at home.
“Look, they’re good,” began Frontier coach Sean MacDonald. “They have three or four hitters that can really hit the ball. They have good ball control, they pass the ball well, which allows them to more easily attack, and they play good defense. They don’t make a lot of errors. They’re in the finals for a reason.”
Junior hitters Yuleishka Alvelo and Natalie Acevedo pace the offensive attack, while classmate Samiyah Cabrera is a dangerous jump server who MacDonald said has a top spin serve that many aren’t accustomed to seeing. The Panthers didn’t play a particularly difficult regular season schedule, as evidenced by being given a No. 17 seed in the bracket despite going undefeated. They won the Western Mass. Class B title with a win over Chicopee.
“It’s going to be one of the best teams we’ve played this year, without a doubt,” MacDonald offered. “Credit to Paulo, they had a couple of gears that they didn’t have to use until they started playing some of the better teams in the state tournament. I thought they pushed Bourne into some things they don’t like to do (in the semifinals).”
Frontier, meanwhile, will have to play Friday’s final without the services of their top hitter, Jillian Apanell. The junior captain leads the Redhawks in kills, but suffered a season-ending injury just five points into Tuesday’s state semifinal win over No. 14 Mount Greylock. MacDonald confirmed Thursday that Frontier would be without the services of its powerful outside hitter.
“It’s a big hit, and things are going to be harder, but I know that we still have the team that can win this,” said MacDonald of the injury. “The bad news is we won’t have Jillian and we’ll have to play with a bit of a different lineup. It’ll present more opportunities for people already in the lineup. We’ve got some players who I think were under-utilized this year. Jillian’s a big target, and she gets a lot of kills, but we have other people who can score points and you can only set one hitter at a time. I still like our chances if we play right.”
It should come as little surprise that a Deane stepped into the Frontier lineup and performed admirably on Tuesday. Sophomore Caroline Deane, younger sister of formers stars Ella and Olivia Deane, put down 15 kills to lead the Redhawks offense with Apanell out of the lineup. Deane will be called upon again to aid the cause, with the likes of Elise Friedrichs, Eve Dougan, Lilah Evans and Samantha Baker also sharing the load offensively.
“We’re not going to replace Jillian with one person, it’s going to be a full team effort,” MacDonald said.
While Frontier is just one victory away from state title No. 11, MacDonald knows there are no givens, particularly for a program that has a lineup of largely fresh faces taking to the court on Friday.
“We lost eight seniors and another player transferred so losing nine good players from last year’s team, to be back here is a big accomplishment for these kids,” he said. “We’re where we wanted to be, in the state final. And I think that since we’re here, we should work like heck to win it.”