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Frontier’s Kate DeMaio (19) passes the ball against Lowell Catholic during the Redhawks’ 3-0 sweep in the MIAA Division 4 Round of 16 on Monday night at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield. -
The Frontier girls volleyball team poses with its Final Four banner after beating Joseph Case in the MIAA Division 4 quarterfinal round on Thursday in South Deerfield.
SOUTH DEERFIELD — If 2023 is in fact his final season at the helm of Frontier girls’ volleyball, Sean MacDonald isn’t about to disembark the postseason train.
“That’s OK with me. I paid full fare, so I might as well take the ride,” said MacDonald, whose 11-time state champions moved one step closer to another title Thursday night with a 3-1 victory over Joseph Case of Swansea in the MIAA Division 4 state quarterfinals at Goodnow Gymnasium.
Third-seeded Frontier ran its record to 20-5 and moved into a Division 4 semifinal against No. 2 seed Bellingham at a site and time still to be determined. Case, the sixth seed, closed out at 18-5.
“A really gritty win against a very good team. Case is always good, and it’s definitely part of the story of Frontier and Case, as many times as we’ve met in the past,” said MacDonald. “None of these girls played in any of those, but I remember them well. It’s nice that it was here, and the students really came out and we appreciate it.”
The Redhawks won the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-21 before Case rallied for a 25-23 victory. The hosts then finished out the match in front 25-20. The largest lead for either team in any of the four sets was eight points.
Senior captains Caroline Deane and Gabby Adams recorded 24 and 17 kills respectively to lead the Frontier attack. The two were also active defensively with 25 and 20 digs, while classmate and captain Allie Pierce handed out 49 assists.
The Cardinals took an early 7-5 lead in Set 1 behind back-to-back service aces from Hannah Storm (13 kills), but Frontier rallied behind Pierce’s serving to take an 11-7 lead and never lost it, going up 20-12 at one point. The Redhawks led 24-19 before Case got two kills from Madilyn Botelho and one from Alana Martinez to pull within 24-22, then Adams finished off the set with a kill of her own.
Case then jumped the Redhawks for an early 8-3 lead in Set 2 and still led 12-7 before Frontier scored five straight points to tie, including a pair of service aces by Kate DeMaio. The Cardinals’ last lead came at 18-17 before Frontier scored four in a row and then ended the set with two kills and an ace by Adams.
Early in the third, Frontier built a 9-4 lead before Case rallied to go up 13-12. The Redhawks surged back and went ahead 21-19 before the Cardinals scored five of the next six points and finished off the set on a Frontier hitting error.
In six postseason matches, Thursday’s Set 3 marked only the second set dropped by Frontier.
Case led the final set by four points early at 9-5 and 11-7 before the hitting of Adams, DeMaio, Deane and Olivia Machon helped Frontier reel them in. A Cardinals service error allowed the hosts to grab the lead for good at 19-18, followed by an Adams kill and an ace by DeMaio. The Redhawks then scored the final three points to close out the match.
Frontier, the defending state champion in Division 5, got the bump this year up into Division 4, where Case had finished as state runner-up in 2022.
“We feel like we’re not going to see anything we haven’t seen. Whether we can do something about it is another story,” said MacDonald of the upward move and the overall strength of schedule the Redhawks have put together. “We knew this was going to be tough. We feel pretty fortunate, after losing five of the top seven (players) from last year, to be back in the Final Four.”
Frontier has now reached the Final Four in all three years of the new statewide tournament format. The Hawks lost in the 2021 state final before capturing the 2022 championship.