AMHERST — The Amherst Regional girls volleyball team led throughout the entire third set to finish a sweep of East Longmeadow, 3-0, Tuesday.
Amherst won 25-19, 25-20, 25-19.
“I feel like we battled all the way through and managed to stay really up and positive,” Amherst coach Kacey Schmitt said. “Stayed really hard on defense, pursued every ball and that’s sometimes all you can ask.”
The Hurricanes started off strong in the first match, jumping out to a 12-8 lead. A few missed serves and unforced errors allowed East Longmeadow to take an 18-14 lead. However, thanks to some great ball movement and a six-point streak by setter Amelia Beigel, the Hurricanes rallied back for the first-set win, 25-19.
“She’s only a sophomore, and she’s worked really, really hard to be where she is right now and she’s got so much ability. I think she’s only going to get better and better,” Schmitt said. “I think she’s just starting to really learn where to go with her sets and making those smart decisions. Looking at where the blockers are, looking at who is the hot hand that night and those are all things setters have to think about and she’s, this is her first year as a varsity setter, and she’s a great kid to.”
The teams were neck and neck in the second set until a costly serve by East Longmeadow into its own net gave Amherst a 20-18 lead.
A pair of two-point streaks by Olivia Hogans (12 kills) and Tricia Sittauer widened the gap for Amherst en route to the 25-20 win.
Another six-point streak from Beigel (eight aces) in the third set put the Hurricanes up 22-15 and allowed them to secure the 25-18 closing win.
Amherst improved to 2-2 on the season. Schmitt has been pleased with the way her young team has been able to fight through adversity.
The Hurricanes lost sophomore Sasha Campbell to a knee injury in the preseason. Campbell came on strong as a freshman in 2017 and was expected to pick up much of the workload left by the departing seniors.
“I think the team is really jelling, they’re really playing together,” Schmitt said. “Last year, I lost about eight really good players, so we have kind of an even mix between sophomores, juniors and seniors, and it’s a fairly new group and I feel like they’re really gelling together as a team and I think that is helping them through those situations where they can kind of fold and instead they support each other and pick each other back up, and I really see that being a factor as to why they bounce back and stay so strong.”
Amherst will travel to Chicopee Comprehensive for its next match on Thursday at 6:15 p.m.
