The Hopedale volleyball team began some ten years ago and this year and this season they were finally able to climb to the top of the mountain where no Blue Raider Volleyball team has gone before. After finishing the season 17-2 Hopedale advanced into the Division 3 Central Volleyball Tournament as the number one seed. Once there, the small school with big hearts took out Bellingham, Sutton and Advanced Math and Science all in 3-0 shutouts before meeting up with the number three seed Whitinsville-Christian for the title. It was not another shutout but the results were the same, a win and the school’s first ever volleyball sectional championship.
After bowing out in the first round to Marian 3-0 in the first round three years ago; then losing to Sutton in the finals after breezing through the first three contests the year after and being ousted by Millbury, the eventual champions last year Hopedale was at awe when they finally won.
“They called us up and I was given the (Championship) award,” Hopedale Coach Andrew Mainini said. “And as I went to hand it to the captains, no one reached out to take it. We had never been in this situation before, it was new territory and the girls didn’t know what to do.”
Having been so close the previous two years Hopedale was looking to get over that hump so Mainini scheduled tougher competition this season. At first it may not have looked like a smart move, but when all was said and done the coach did his team a favor. Hopedale lost to Millbury in the second game of the season leaving them at 1-1 and the coach decided to rethink the lineup.
“If we wanted to be successful I needed to set the girls up to succeed and the adjustment seemed to help as they settled into the new lineup from there,” the coach said. “Unfortunately two matches later we lost to Shrewsbury, a big Division 2 program that has more kids on each of their three teams than we have on our two combined. That evening was a learning experience as the girls battled back to take the second set and although we eventually lost 3-2 the team realized their potential.”
The four seniors, who have been with the program since their freshman year, will be able to say they were part of the first ever volleyball championship team. Morgan Foley, Jenna Van Zile, Liz Swanson and Julianna Poirier have been an instrumental part of the Blue Raiders success. Over their four years the squad has gone an incredible 64-14 with only three losses in the regular season the past two years.
“These seniors were the heart and soul of this team and as the year went on they continually got better,” Mainini said. “Whenever they were challenged they stepped up and executed. They set the benchmark for this team for the year to come.”
While capturing their first ever District 3 Central Title the Blue Raiders fell to Bourne, the South Champion, 3-1 in the Division 3 State Semi-Finals. And although disappointed, the girls have put the Hopedale volleyball team on the map for years to come with their 2017 accomplishment.
Issue Date:
December, 2017
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