GRANBY — Trailing 8-6 in the fifth and final set of Thursday’s MIAA Division 2 preliminary round match against No. 34 Keefe Tech, No. 31 Granby had to turn it around in a hurry if the Rams wanted to continue their season into the weekend. A Broncos service error put the ball in Daniel Santiago’s hands, and he rifled an ace to tie the set at eight apiece.
Behind Santiago’s strong serve, Granby rattled off the next four points to jump ahead 12-8 and put itself in the driver’s seat to advance. However Keefe Tech battled back and eventually knotted it up at 14. The Rams clawed back in front 16-15, and on the ensuing point, Brandon Chatel sent the ball over to Keefe Tech’s side. It deflected off a Broncos player’s hands and landed on the Granby gymnasium hardwood – clinching a 3-2 victory for the Rams.
Their 21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 17-15 victory sent them through to the Round of 32, where No. 2 Westfield is waiting. That match is scheduled for Saturday at noon at Westfield High School.
“We just needed to play with confidence,” Granby head coach Chad Gagnon said. “They’re really good players when they play with confidence. If they don’t believe in themselves, then they start to not want the ball and struggle. But as long as they play with confidence they are great. You don’t have to play above your ability, you just have to play to what you can do. And they did that in the fifth set to help us close this one out.”
It was the Broncos who brought the energy off the bus ride from Framingham, as they raced out to an early 1-0 lead following a 25-21 first-set victory. For most of the frame, Granby played a bit timid – perhaps the nerves of a state tournament match getting to them.
That quickly went away over the next two sets. Chatel recorded an ace to clinch set No. 2 and tie the match at one, and in the third set, Keefe Tech went for a kill down 24-22 and it sailed out of bounds to put the hosts in front 2-1. During those two sets, Gagnon witnessed the team he has become accustomed to seeing this season.
“They always start slow,” Gagnon said of his bunch. “We’re a slow-starting team. They have to have a couple good plays to kind of get themselves rolling. Once that happens, you saw what can happen in set two. That’s the team that I know we are. We have the ability to have nice, smooth offense because we have good passing. When you play tight and tense, that passing starts to fall apart.”
Granby was led by Braeden Gallagher on Thursday, as the junior put down a whopping 18 kills and added 15 digs and an ace. Any time the going got tough and the Rams needed a point, they would dial up Gallagher on the outside – who time and time again put down a monster kill. Nathan Walsh (30 assists) set him up perfectly on a number of occasions.
Gallagher does a little bit of everything for Granby, and the team needed every bit of it to sneak out a preliminary round win.
“He gives us stability,” Gagnon said of Gallagher. “He’s always solid, he’s always a good player no matter what you’re asking him to do – whether it’s from the service line, the hitting line or defensively, where he’s rock-solid. He passes perfect almost all the time. When you have that, it’s nice to be able to lean on it. That’s why he’s a captain.”
Chatel added seven kills, 10 digs, one block and one ace, Santiago dug up 10 balls and put down three kills while recording a match-high six aces thanks to his powerful serve and Durant Garden had four kills in the Granby win.
The Rams have been without perhaps their best player in Jake Gagnon for over a month, as he suffered a season-ending injury earlier this season. Granby had high hopes of repeating as Western Massachusetts Class C champions, but were unable to do so this spring.
Earning a state tournament win and seeing several Rams players step up in the absence of Jake Gagnon is exactly what Chad Gagnon, Jake’s dad and head coach, hoped would occur.
“We’ve had a lot of guys step up and play better and better and better, every game,” Chad Gagnon said. “They’re filling in the roles of their jobs better, because they’re not leaning on a guy like Jake. They’re all stepping up and it’s great to see at this point in the season.”
Granby (13-6) has won five of its last six and eye an upset over powerhouse Westfield this weekend.
No. 28 Frontier 3, No. 37 Lynn Voc Tech 0 — A grueling regular season schedule has the Frontier boys volleyball team prepared heading into the state tournament.
Of the Redhawks’ 20 regular season matches, 15 opponents qualified for either the Div. 1 or Div. 2 state tournament while nine of those teams earned top 10 seeds, showcasing the level of opponent Frontier played throughout the season.
Hosting 37th-seeded Lynn Vocational on Thursday in the Div. 2 preliminary round, 28th-seeded Frontier looked like a team ready for the tournament.
Frontier pulled away in the first set, grinded out a victory in the second and got going late in the third set to walk away with a 3-0 sweep over the Tigers at Goodnow Gymnasium.
“We had a loaded schedule,” Redhawks coach Courtney Parent said. “We played veteran teams that have been around for a long time, much like our girls’ team. We get to a point where we have to remind them that this is just our fourth year having a team and they’ve come so far in those four seasons. I do think to a point our schedule makes us better but it’s hard to keep the morale.”
For Frontier (8-13) on Thursday, it was about focusing on themselves and performing their best regardless of the opponent.
“We talked a lot about error management and keeping our side together,” Parent said. “We wanted to control what we can control on our side of the court and the rest will come together if we keep our serves in, keep our unforced errors low.”
Tegan Dexter was a force all night long for the Redhawks as Frontier tried to get the ball to him early and often.
Dexter smashed four kills early that helped the Redhawks build a 10-6 lead in the opening set. Frontier pulled ahead 21-12 after Dexter and Will Reading put down kills and the Redhawks went on to earn a 25-16 win to take a 1-0 lead.
Frontier led 22-16 in the second set but Lynn Vocational (16-5) rallied, cutting the lead to 24-22. The Redhawks held on and scored on a Dexter kill to earn a 25-22 set win to go up 2-0.
Leading 14-13 in the third, Frontier scored 11 of the final 16 points to seal the win with a 25-18 set win.
Dexter led the way with 20 kills and 12 digs, Tavo Vincent-Warner distributed 37 assists, Nate Rivera put down nine kills to go along with 11 digs, Reading finished with nine kills and seven digs and Will Petrin added two kills, two aces and five digs in the winning effort.
It’ll be a familiar opponent for the Redhawks in the Round of 32, as they go on the road to take on No. 5 Chicopee Comp on Saturday at a time to be determined. The Colts beat Frontier, 3-0, earlier in the season.
“I’m excited to see them again,” Parent said. “They are a top 10 team and competed well in Western Mass. A lot of their guys play in the offseason. They’ll be a team to reckoned with and it’ll take a lot if we want to beat them Saturday.”
