SOUTH DEERFIELD — In the past, local high school teams had to fight their way through the Western Mass. tournament just to qualify for the state tournament. Now, with a new-look postseason, the best teams have an opportunity to compete in both tourneys.
In its first season of existence, Frontier boys volleyball has its sights set on what would be its first-ever WMass title after polishing off Athol in three straight sets, 25-15, 25-16, 25-12, in the PVIAC Class C semifinals Monday at Goodnow Gymnasium.
The No. 1-seeded Redhawks (15-2) shrugged off small deficits at the start of each of the first two games, then left nothing to chance in the third, building up commanding leads of 10-2 and 19-5 before closing it out.
Athol, the No. 4 seed, dropped its third match of the season to Frontier and wrapped up the spring at 4-16.
“It was a test for us. Sometimes even I forget that these boys have only been playing volleyball for three months,” said Frontier co-coach Courtney Parent. “Moving forward, we’re still going to be tested because we’re still so new at this.”
Behind a pair of kills from Colin Mason, Athol scored the first three points of Game 1 before Frontier rallied with the next six. The game seesawed until, leading 10-8, the Redhawks opened some space with five straight points, thanks to kills by Jack Carey and Jesse Kurkulonis and two service aces by Kurkulonis.
Another winner by Deter Ngawang and three kills by 6-foot-8 Aleks Carey jumped Frontier’s lead to 23-13 before a pair of errors at the net and two service errors allowed the hosts to prevail, 25-15.
Athol went one better in Game 2 with an early 4-0 lead, but two kills by Ngawang, one by Aleks Carey and two blocks by Carey helped the Redhawks tie it a 6-6. After the Bears went up 10-7 on a Luke Inniss kill, Frontier ran off eight of the next nine points for a 15-11 lead. From a 19-15 score, the Redhawks ran off five in a row for game point, and Kurkulonis ended it on a kill to make it 25-16.
In Game 3, Frontier led 5-1 and 10-2 out of the blocks before Athol called a timeout. Kurkulonis had a kill and a pair of aces and Ngawang added a kill of his own as the Redhawks moved from a 13-5 lead to 19-5. Frontier then scored the last three points, getting an ace from Carey and a kill by Kurkulonis to end it.
“It is what it is this year, but all we can do is learn and move on,” said Bears coach Mark Hunt. “The skills we’ve developed through the season have really shown me the potential of this program. It’s a young team that I have, but I really feel like the next couple of years, we can definitely be up there too.”
Inniss had seven kills and Mason five to lead Athol.
Frontier was paced by Aleks Carey’s 11 kills and three blocks, 10 kills and 13 digs for Kurkulonis, and eight kills and 13 digs by Ngawang. Setter Tavo Vincent-Warner handed out 29 assists during the match.
Second-seeded Southwick hosts No. 3 seed Ware in the other semifinal on Tuesday, with Frontier getting the winner in the PVIAC Class C championship on May 31 at 5 p.m. at Chicopee Comp. The Redhawks did not face Southwick in the regular season, but beat Ware in four games back on April 14.
“Our last two weeks of the regular season, we had seven matches in (10) days. So I think we’re actually looking forward to some practice time,” said Parent. “I think it’s cool to say that we qualified for the state tournament just by our record. It’s an opportunity for them to play more volleyball, and that’s really important for us as a first-year program.”