Brandon D’Amours and his blazing jump racked up four aces in a single run to power the defending champion Brownies to the sectional final.
AGAWAM – After missing his team’s last match to attend a prom at another school, Brandon D’Amours wanted to make an impact on his return to the Agawam High School volleyball team.
D’Amours and his blazing jump serve did just that on Thursday. The senior tri-captain racked up four aces in a single run during the second set to help the Brownies to a 3-0 win over visiting Ludlow in a Western Massachusetts tournament semifinal.
“Consistency’s definitely everything,” D’Amours said. “I definitely had to make my presence well known.”
A gutsy third-set comeback helped the second-seeded Brownies (20-1) secure a berth in Monday’s 6:30 p.m. championship match at Holyoke Community College. They await the winner of Friday’s other semifinal between No. 1 Chicopee Comprehensive (18-1) and No. 4 Westfield (13-6).
Agawam defeated Comp in last year’s final, breaking the Colts’ run of three straight championships.
No. 3 Ludlow (14-6) fought valiantly to extend the match in the third set. The Lions led for most of it, until the Brownies rattled off four of the last five points to seal the victory.
Senior tri-captain Collin Ritter, who had 14 assists and six kills, set up match point with a booming spike that careened off the head of Ludlow libero Luis Quiterio. After a Ludlow kill, Agawam earned match point when a Sean Fournier serve sailed long.
“Once our second setter (Zach Goggin) came back in, things started to click like they did in practice,” Ritter said of the late-match rally. “The sets got a lot better.”
Junior Sawyer Frederick posted seven kills and six blocks for the Brownies, while senior tri-captain Jon Reidy contributed eight kills.
Junior Tim Zhilaev had an impressive match for Ludlow, with most of his eight kills coming at opportune times. Fournier recorded 12 digs and seven kills, while Curtis Pereira notched seven key kills.
“I thought Agawam played extremely well,” Lions coach Fred Glanville said. “We played a good match, but they played better.”
Glanville hoped his team could shake Agawam’s confidence by forcing a fourth set.
“I thought maybe if we took one, they’d stop playing so exceptional,” said Glanville, whose team graduates only three seniors. “We were right there close to them.”