Greely volleyball completes storybook season with Class B title
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Greely players celebrate after beating Washington 3-0 to win the Class B volleyball championship on Saturday in South Portland. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
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SOUTH PORTLAND — There was no championship-or-bust mission for the Greely volleyball team going into this season. There were no grandiose dreams, no Gold Ball expectations.
Which is why, when the season did end with a championship, the Rangers were as surprised as anyone.
No. 1 seed Greely won its first volleyball title in 10 years on Saturday, sweeping second-seeded and two-time defending champion Washington Academy in the Class B final at Southern Maine Community College.
“I don’t think any of us really believed that we would be here in this moment,” said senior hitter Annabelle Talley, who totaled eight kills and six aces in the 25-16, 25-16, 25-23 victory. “If you had told me in the beginning of the season that we would be state champs this year, I don’t think anyone on the team would have believed it. It’s honestly an insane feeling.”
That wasn’t just one player’s feeling.
“I didn’t expect us to be in the championship this year,” said junior middle hitter and co-captain Maddie Huntington. “But I think after our last (regular) season game, we really saw the possibility. People worked really hard, and I think it showed.”
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Greely (16-1) reached the semifinals last year, falling to Washington, but graduated nine seniors and went into the year with freshmen and sophomores scattered throughout the lineup. The goal was to win as many matches as possible. Not a championship.
A regular-season win over Washington (15-2) got the Rangers thinking bigger, however. On Saturday, that newfound belief was rewarded.
“That told us ‘This is a top team. We can take this team, we can do it again,'” Greely coach Autumn Vargo said. “And then when we beat York at the end of the season, that gave us really good momentum going into the playoffs.”
The first step was starting strong, something the Rangers didn’t do in the previous round against Messalonskee. But that box was checked Saturday; Greely never trailed in the first set, and a string of three straight aces by Talley gave the Rangers a 9-6 lead in the second that they never surrendered.
“They just played calm, they played composed,” Vargo said. “They went out there telling themselves maybe we don’t necessarily deserve it over this team, but we have earned the spot here. We’re going to come out and show them that we can play with the best of them.”
Greely again took a big lead in the third set, going up 22-16 and prompting chants of “It’s all over!” from the student section. But the reigning champs didn’t go down quietly. Jaylyn Warren and Marlee Carver had kills as the Raiders won the next five points.
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A block kill by Huntington stopped the bleeding, however. An ace from Alena Tierney (one of Greely’s two sophomore setters, along with Avery Enos) followed, and Talley set up sophomore Reagan Dailey two points later for a hit that Washington couldn’t return, starting the celebration.
“Obviously it’s disappointing, but it is what it is. I think it’s a privilege to have the opportunity to play in this game, because not everyone does,” first-year Raiders coach Kalyn Stevens said. “Greely played phenomenal. Their defense was frustrating for us, they were getting to all sorts of balls. (Talley) did fantastic, she’s a great player.”
Greely was consistently able to find an answer for Washington hitters Warren (seven kills), Aubrey Faukingham (six) and Carver (five), with libero Ellie Desorbo and Maple Bouchard-Simpson — both sophomores — delivering one clutch dig after another.
“They are just steady, consistent players in our lineup,” Huntington said, “and they did an amazing job tonight.”
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Tagged: greely rangers, washington raiders
Drew Bonifant covers sports for the Press Herald, with beats in high school football, basketball and baseball. He was previously part of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel sports team. A New Hampshire. More by Drew Bonifant
