Greely volleyball advances to first Class B state final in a decade
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Greely coach Autumn Vargo celebrates her team’s Class B volleyball semifinal win over Messalonskee on Wednesday in Lewiston. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
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LEWISTON — Greely hasn’t advanced to a volleyball state final since 2016, so Anabelle Talley was excited when her team finally secured its return.
“This is an amazing feeling,” said Talley, a senior outside hitter. “It’s been three years now and we’ve gotten kicked out either in quarters or semis, and so I’ve never gotten to this point yet, no one on the team has, and it’s been 10 years since we’ve even gotten in states. So it’s really cool for us to be able to make an appearance now and hopefully win it.”
The Rangers defeated Messalonskee 3-1 in the Class B semifinals on Wednesday at Lewiston High School.
Talley finished with a team-high 22 kills and eight aces to pace top-seeded Greely (15-1), which faces second-seeded Washington Academy (15-1) – a 3-1 winner over York – in the Class B state final on Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Messalonskee (9-7) may have been the lower-seeded team at No. 4, but it certainly didn’t play like it.
The Eagles eked out an opening-set win, 26-24, getting the jump on a Rangers team that claimed a 3-0 head-to-head win on Oct. 3. Greely, however, rebounded to win the second set, 25-14.
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In sets three and four, the Rangers had to dig out of deficits. Messalonskee held an early 7-2 lead in the third set and a 20-13 lead in the fourth. Both times, Greely chipped away and closed it out when the sets could’ve swung either way. The Rangers took set three, 25-20, and set four, 26-24.
“Espeically in a playoff game, it’s hard to get out of those ruts and it’s hard to kind of pick yourself up,” Talley said. “And so we really just needed to count on every point and we needed to push, and that’s kind of the same thing that we kept saying, was just, ‘push, push, push and find the spots.’”
UNSUNG HERO
With her team down 24-22 in the fourth set, Greely’s Reagan Dailey recorded a timely kill to keep the Rangers alive. They went on to score the next three points to clinch a trip to the state final. Dailey, a sophomore, finished with eight kills.
HEARD IT HERE FIRST
• “It’s one game at a time, which we’ve been saying the whole season, and it’s just another match. Yeah, it’s states, but it’s just another match. We’re just going to go for it. Leave it all on the court.” — Greely coach Autumn Vargo
• “Class B, I think, is the toughest division in the state. It’s so hard to make it to this point, and we did. And I told the girls, ‘what are we, one of 16 teams left at this point in the year? And out of how many other teams?’ And if I had told them that at the beginning of the season, I think they would have been really happy to be here.” — Messalonskee coach Dan Juilli
STATISTICAL LEADERS
• Greely: Anabelle Talley (22 kills, eight digs, eight aces), Alena Tierney (23 assists, eight digs), Avery Enos (17 assists, six digs)
• Messalonskee: Alanna Voter (27 digs, three aces), Lauryn Swails (23 digs), Leah Adams (21 kills)
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Tagged: greely rangers, Messalonskee Eagles
Jimmy covers sports for the Sun Journal, primarily contributing to the Varsity Maine team. He is from Hagerstown, Maryland, and graduated from the University of Richmond in May of 2025 with a B.A. in journalism. More by Jimmy James
