HOLYOKE — Already down two sets to none against Holyoke, the Athol boys volleyball team was in a do-or-die situation late in the third set. With the frame tied at nine apiece, the Bears used a 7-2 run to storm ahead 16-11 and capture all momentum inside John “Jinx” O’Connor Gymnasium.

But the Purple Knights, winners of four in a row entering Friday’s contest, were determined to keep their streak alive.

Behind the serving prowess of senior Adrian Centeno-Feliciano, Holyoke re-captured the lead at 17-16, and never gave it up the rest of the way en route to a three-set sweep – its third consecutive win of that variety – over Athol.

Set scores were 25-17, 25-17, 25-19 in favor of the Purple Knights.

“We still want them to get to a higher level, but overall they played well,” Holyoke assistant coach Josh Abrams said. “We got some timely serves and hits when we needed it, and we limited our unforced errors, so we’ll take it.”

The go-ahead stretch from Athol in the third was the second big run of the match it embarked on, with the other coming early on in the first. Trailing 11-2 in a blink, the Bears were buoyed by the strong play of their captains – Ray Castine, Caleb Leblanc and Colin Mason – to help them on a 9-0 spurt and tie the set at 11.

While they showed the clear capability of playing at a high level with several long rallies and big swings on the outside, they just couldn’t consistently sustain it throughout.

That’s been the issue during Athol’s five-game skid to start the season.

“I thought we played together today, which is not how we started off the first five games,” Bears head coach Nathan Fisher said. “The more we do that, the more successful we’ll be. The runs that we had today was because we stuck together. That to us is a huge plus moving forward.”

Holyoke’s ferocious serving certainly didn’t help Athol, either. Centeno-Feliciano and Gedeon Ortiz went on several long service runs, including an important one from Ortiz late in the third set to pull the Purple Knights away for good.

The overall strength of Holyoke and its serving kept the Bears on their heels to disrupt their offensive rhythm just enough on Friday – in turn helping out its own attack.

“We definitely have some strong servers,” Abrams said. “Adrian and Gedeon had some good ones that made their passing challenging, and it’s always good to get a free ball out of it or move into our offense off of that.”

Centeno-Feliciano brought his do-it-all kit to Friday’s contest. Whether it was serving, putting down electric kills, blocking shots at the net or even dishing out assists, the senior did whatever his team needed – and his versatility was on full display.

Now in his fourth year with the program, Centeno-Feliciano is starting to put it all together for this Holyoke group.

“He’s a senior, and it’s been good to see him develop over the years,” Abrams said. “He’s developed into more of a leader and is playing more like an impact player at the net or with his serve. He’s improved every year and hopefully he can keep it going.”

On the flip side, when Athol did string together good offensive possessions and forced Holyoke to send over free balls, the Bears fell victim to a handful of miscommunication errors – leading to the ball dropping in between a host of red jerseys.

Although that aspect is something Fisher said has improved, it still isn’t where it needs to be.

“Communication is something we’ve struggled with, letting balls fall without calling for it,” Fisher said. “Those are the things that we really have to work on. Today was better, but it’s still a work in progress.”

Athol (0-5) hits the road on Tuesday for a match with Pioneer Valley Christian Academy at 5:15 p.m. looking to get in the win column for the first time.

Holyoke (5-1) hopes to make it six straight victories when it travels to Ware. That match is slated for 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday.