The Turners Falls girls volleyball team held off a comeback attempt from Greenfield in a 3-1 win in Western play at Nichols Gymnasium on Wednesday night. Set scores were 25-18, 25-18, 19-25 and 25-22.
The win put the Thunder at .500 for the season under new coach Abby Loynd, who took over for longtime coach Kelly Liimatainen. Loynd played under Liimatainen during her career at Turners Falls.
Greenfield’s Lizzy Derivolkova dives for an attempted save vs Turners in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners’ Maddie Haight sets the ball vs Greenfield in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Greenfield’s Amy Mihailicenco returns the ball vs Turners in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Greenfield’s Amelia Prescott makes a hit vs Turners in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners’ Autumn Thornton digs a ball vs Greenfield in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners’ Jakhia Williams returns a volley vs Greenfield in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners’ Abby Moffatt goes high for a hit vs Turners in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Greenfield’s Lizzy Derivolkova digs a ball vs Turners in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners’ Aiyana Simmons returns a volley vs Greenfield in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Greenfield’s Yerializ Collado Bonilla digs a volley vs Turners in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Greenfield’s Paradis Benz makes a overhead hit vs Turners in Nichols Gymnasium Wednesday night. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo
“It’s definitely more of a learning curve than I thought,” Loynd said. “I was coming into it a lot more confident. But it is such a different beast going from just doing J.V. to doing the whole program…but it’s been a lot of fun and I am hoping we can turn it around the rest of the season.”
The Thunder (3-3) cruised in the first two sets but experienced some turbulence in the third when Greenfield took some momentum in front of the home crowd. The specter of playing a fifth set created some extra juice for the Thunder.
“They definitely got tired,” Loynd said. “I reminded them that they didn’t want to go to five…the more you work now the less you will have to work for the rest of the night. “
There were new coaches on the other side of the court for Greenfield. With previous coach Brian Campbell stepping down, Kristine Given took over on an interim basis with the help of Abbe Bresciano. Given coached the freshmen and the junior varsity matches prior to the nightcap.
“I was definitely worried with having to coach all three teams,” Given said. “But the help of the captains has been so great. They helped with the set up and getting to know everything. I tried to step up and it’s been a lot, but the team has helped. “
The play of Amy Mihailicenco sparked the Green Wave in the third set. Mihailicenco finished with 11 kills with seven digs and had the play of the night when she stuck out her foot to keep the ball from hitting the court.
The miraculous play saved the point for Greenfield. Ashlyn Koscinski and Lizzy Derivolkova had 11 digs combined. Amelia Prescott added six kills for the Green Wave.
“They brought it back,” Given said of her team. “They were low energy in the first two sets. They got their energy back and killed it.”
Jahkia Williams led a well-rounded offense with eight kills for the Thunder. Addi Talbot added four kills, with most of them coming at pivotal moments in the fourth set. Maddie Haight led the offense with 15 assists and added seven aces.
The forever steady Abby Moffatt had 10 digs to shore up Turners Falls’ defensive effort.
Greenfield had an early lead in the first set, but Haight set up Autumn Thornton for a kill that tied the score, 5-5. Turners Falls went on a 6-2 run to take the lead. Gianna Marigliano’s kill gave the Thunder an 18-10 advantage.
Turners Falls went ahead 6-2 in the second set and never trailed afterwards in the frame. Mihailienco’s kill gave Greenfield the win in set No. 3. Greenfield made a push in the fourth, but the Thunder closed it out.
Mohawk 3, Athol 0 — The Warriors swept the Bears in a Western matchup in Buckland. Set scores were 25-20, 25-23 and 25-19. Claire Johnson, Maddie Finn, Zoe Mojallali, Anna Whitaker and Emmalee Inman each had two kills. Zoey-Mae Shearer had 11 service points to go with her 6 assists. Grace Stevens capped off the night with the winning serve in the last set.
Franklin Tech 3, Pioneer 0 — Madison Pettengill had eight kills and eight digs for the Eagles in their sweep of the Panthers in Northfield. Set scores were 25-16, 25-23 and 25-20 in the Western matchup. Kendra Steiner added four aces and four digs for the Eagles. Kiara Gruzskowski had 10 digs for the Panthers.
Frontier 3, Agawam 1 — The Redhawks turned away the Brownies at Goodnow Gymnasium. Set scores were 24-26, 25-21, 25-12 and 25-20. Aimee Talbot led the offense with 13 kills. Kaelyn Johnston had 12 digs, with Karinna Kostov playing set up with 24 assists.
Boys soccer
Franklin Tech 5, Mount Everett 0 — Five different goalscorers found the net in an independent win for the Eagles in Turners Falls. Nate Gheorghita (assist), Cody Yetter, Santiago Buri Rosales, Dylan Duvall (assist) and Jonah Wiles (assist) all scored for Franklin Tech. Kaiden Price added another assist for Franklin Tech.
Frontier 0, Central 0 — The Redhawks settled for a tie in a Holley league game in Springfield.
Hampden Charter 4, Athol 1 — The Bears lost on the road in a Tri-County North matchup.
Smith Vocational 6, Mohawk 0 — Josh Cole scored three goals for the Vikings in a win over the Warriors in Northampton.
Girls soccer
SICS 3, Franklin Tech 2 — The Eagles battled back from a two-goal deficit, but a goal in the 64th minute by the Bulldogs sealed the independent win in Springfield. Faythe Sobieski scored two goals, with assists coming from Layla Hammond and Carly Walsh. Sheyenne Ballentine made 10 saves for the Eagles.
Hopkins 8, Greenfield 2 — The Green Wave fell to the undefeated Golden Hawks in Hadley. Tayler Bergeron scored twice for the Green Wave.
Pioneer 4, Hoosac 1 — Four second half goals gave the Panthers an independent win at home against the Hurricanes. Deveney Pillsbury scored two goals on free kicks for Pioneer. Dželilia Cecunjanin and Maya Laprade also scored. Amy VanDoren had an assist. Maggie Tsipenyuk made six saves in net.
Golf
Frontier 169, Turners Falls 171 —The Redhawks slipped past the Thunder behind a 40 from Braiden Dion in an independent match up at Cherry Hill Golf Course. Jamie McCarthy and Christian Powell both shot a 42 for the Redhawks. Liam Kerivan carded a 40 for the Thunder. His round included an eagle on the first.
Late Tuesday results
Girls cross country
Mohawk 17, Greenfield 38; Southwick 22, Greenfield 33; Mohawk 24, Southwick 31 — Virginia Krezmien led the Warriors to a pair of victories in a tri-meet. Krezmien finished first over all (20:32). Lauren Helie was the top finisher for Greenfield in seventh (25:45).
Boys cross country
Mohawk 27, Southwick 28; Mohawk 23, Greenfield 32; Southwick 23, Greenfield 35 — Ryan Spofford of Greenfield placed first overall (17:08), but the Warriors brought home two team victories in a tri-meet. Leo Boltz placed third (19:25) for the Warriors, with Xerxes Law right behind him in fourth (19:43).
