SHARON, Mass. – Sharon closed out its regular season with a sweep of Stoughton. The Eagles celebrated senior night and what they believed to be the end of the year, but those celebrations were premature. Two days later they found out that they had qualified as the No. 29 seed in Division 2. For the first time in years, Sharon was heading to the tournament.
On Wednesday night, the Eagles welcomed No. 36 seed Revere. The Patriots jumped on top with a solid first set and it looked like the playoff run might come to an abrupt end, but Sharon battled back, coming from behind in the match and in each of the third and fourth sets to secure a 3-1 (18-25, 25-10, 25-23, 25-21) victory.
“We had senior night and everyone was super excited,” said senior captain Simone Dunbar. “The season was over, and then we get an email on Sunday night saying we’re playing playoff games next week. It was really surprising.”
“At first, I was a little shaken up because our season didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” she continued. “Once we got into it, it was great. As a senior it definitely feels really good to get to continue in volleyball because I do love to play the sport and I love my team.”
After winning three of their last four matches coming into Wednesday, the Eagles seemed to carry that momentum into the match against Revere, scoring the opening six points. Then things took a turn, as Revere rolled off nine of the next 10 to take the lead. A kill and an ace by Erin Schustek put Sharon back in front 11-10, but four straight by the visitors stole the energy right back.
The Patriots had control of the match after one set, but Sharon looked much more confident and had far more energy in the second to even things up.
“I told them I wanted to see more of the beginning part of the [first] game than the latter and I’m getting too old for repeat performances like that and they responded well,” said Sharon coach Bill Schustek.
Dunbar started things with a block and Sophia Pandey went on a couple of long runs at the service line. Trinity Payne came off the bench to give Sharon a dominant presence in the middle. She scored four points in the set and also gave the Eagles strong defense at the net. Olivia Nau also gave Sharon a lift on the defensive side with a couple of big blocks on the outside. Lavinna Denny kept plays alive with her defense in the back row and had several important serves.
This time it was the Eagles that had momentum after the set, but again the momentum seemed to be left behind with the change of sides.
Revere stormed out of the gates in the third with Ayra Vranic causing problems on the outside and Kelren Fernandes Dias’s jump serve proving difficult to handle. An ace by Tassya Da Costa put the Patriots up 15-7 and it looked like they might run away with the set and regain the lead.
Instead, a pair of violations got Sharon going and cut the lead to six. Nau had another block for a point and Pandey’s serve got the Eagles within four. An ace by Denny put Sharon ahead in the set, 18-17. It was an 11-2 run to grab the lead.
“They didn’t try to do it seven or eight points at a time,” Schustek explained. “They knew to get a couple, then side out, then a couple more and side out. All credit to them and the senior leaders showing their stuff. They kept everybody calm out on the court.”
The visitors weren’t done and came back with three straight points, but another violation and an error tied things at 20-20 and Schustek fired in an ace to go in front. After Revere came back with two straight, Amanda Brown had her biggest swing of the night, grabbing a kill to tie it. Maia ben-Joseph came up with an ace and an error put the Eagles on the brink. Dunbar had the final swing of the third, finding the court to make it 2-1 Sharon.
“We’re definitely good at picking each other up, especially when we start to get down,” Dunbar said. “I think volleyball is a really mental sport. As soon as you get in your own head, it’s going to ruin what’s going on with the rest of the team. All through the season, we’ve been good at building each other back up and it really just showed through this game.”
In the fourth, things started out back-and-forth, with Sharon holding an early 8-6 lead. Revere put together and 11-3 run and led 17-11. The match looked destined for a decisive fifth set.
Again, the Eagles proved resilient and started chipping away at the lead. When libero Emily Coplan serve skipped off the top of the net and dropped into an empty space, the Eagles had come all the way back to tie it at 18-18. An error put Revere back in front, but Savannah Gray managed to get a point with an accurate, off-balance, lefty tip. Another Revere kill made it 20-19 but Sonja Gray set Schustek for a kill on the outside and then she followed it with back-to-back aces to give Sharon a two-point cushion.
“Once we get focused on serve-receive and do a good job putting up a settable ball, good things happen on offense for sure,” Schustek said. “Sonja Gray did a great job picking her hitters and putting the ball where they can do something good with it.”
The Patriots got one back but a hitting error gave the Eagles the serve leading 23-21. Ben-Joseph, who was called up to varsity late in the season, fired another ace to put the Eagles on the brink of the Round of 32. Dunbar would get the final point, her bump finding the right spot to cause havoc for the Patriots.
Sharon (6-13) will now advance to face No. 4 seed Billerica on Friday afternoon.
“It’s awesome,” Schustek said about the experience of playing in the postseason. “I mentioned to the other Hock coaches at the coaches’ meeting, I thanked them for being so good that we were able to get into the tournament. That’s the difference between the Hock and a lot of other leagues, we’ve got 11 of 12 teams in the tournament and it speaks volumes about the league.”