Wildcats to play in the South Division 3 final four

The volleyball team romps Coyle & Cassidy 3-0, takes aim at the championship

Story and photos by Richard W Dionne Jr
Posted 11/8/18

Westport volleyball romped 14th seeded Coyle & Cassidy 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-15) on Tuesday night to gain the 2018 MIAA Girls Volleyball South Division-3 final four.

The Wildcats play Bourne …

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Wildcats to play in the South Division 3 final four

The volleyball team romps Coyle & Cassidy 3-0, takes aim at the championship

Posted

Westport volleyball romped 14th seeded Coyle & Cassidy 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-15) on Tuesday night to gain the 2018 MIAA Girls Volleyball South Division-3 final four.

The Wildcats play Bourne at Oliver Ames High School on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. If they win, the Cats would play either Case or Rockland at Silver Lake Regional High School on Sunday at noon for the D-3 championship.

I have never seen my team play as well as they did today,” said Head Coach Michael King. “The nine girls that played today deserved all of the credit for everything that happened. They did a phenomenal job from start to finish.”

“To get this far feels incredible, said senior co-captain Sophie Pawlak. “It’s been more than a decade since any Westport volleyball team has gone past the second round.”

“It’s such an amazing experience,” Pawlak said. “Especially us being seniors. This is our last year and we get to go out with it.”

Coach King and the team has been working on their defense all season long and it’s starting to pay off. During the season the team’s sophomore Libero, Jordan Folcik, went down with a concussion. The Libero is the team’s defensive specialist that calls the plays for the team. Coach King inserted Paige Churchill who he had been grooming as Folcik’s back up.

“We’ve been working on defense, defense, defense,” said coach King. “Our Libero, Paige Churchill, is a freshman. I cannot tell you how important she is to this team. She has unbelievable knowledge as a 14 year-old. She runs the defense. She tells the girls where to go. She knows what she’s doing and that’s so hard to teach.”

“Paige was up for the challenge,” said senior co-captain Sydney Pacheco. “She was able to take charge because she knew how to control the back row. Paige makes good calls when it comes to ins and outs and where to place people.”

“The win was amazing. It took everything out of us, “Pacheco said. “We aren’t the strongest and biggest team, but we have grit. We play hard. We don’t give up until the whistle blows. We keep going.”

“Coach King says that we don’t win unless we have three. We have to stay humble and can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Pacheco said. “This is the last year for us seniors and we’re so proud of everyone.”

Scoring

Senior Sydney Pacheco led the team with seven aces, four kills and seven assists. Sophie Pawlak had seven assists, two kills and an assist. Lacie Miranda had four aces, one kill, one assist and two digs. Paige Churchill had two digs, Kyleigh Finglas had one ace and two kills. Mae Lima had one ace, two kills and one assist. Sarah Moniz had two aces, one kill and one dig.

“They played unbelievable across the board. Our hits were falling. Our defense were digging their hits all night long. We served the ball unbelievably,” said coach King.

“It was amazing,” Pawlak said of the win, “It was such a huge team effort.”

“King is always saying it’s not one person,” Pawlak said. “We are a team. And once we started clicking together and playing together, we couldn’t be stopped.”

Now it’s on to the final four.

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.