The Mt. Hope High School girls' volleyball team is trending quite nicely as the final few matches of its 2024 slate await, doing so despite having dealt with a series of injuries and illness to key …
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The Mt. Hope High School girls' volleyball team is trending quite nicely as the final few matches of its 2024 slate await, doing so despite having dealt with a series of injuries and illness to key contributors throughout the fall.
The Huskies enter the last week of the regular season on a quite a roll, winners of their last eight matches and with the second-best record in Division II at 11-5. Only Barrington, which beat the locals 3-0 back on September 20, has a better mark at 13-2.
Mt. Hope's run began two matches after falling to the rival Eagles. The Huskies next dropped a 3-0, non-league match to Cumberland, which after losing to East Providence in last year's D-II championship contest moved with the Townies up to D-I in time for this fall.
The locals began their spree by going the distance to defeat Cranston East, the first of three, five-setters in a row. The Huskies' run reached eight last week with three more wins: 3-0 over Pilgrim, 3-1 over Westerly and 3-1 over Tiverton.
Mt. Hope's streaked climbed to a half-dozen after the Huskies easily dismissed Pilgrim Tuesday night, Oct. 15, on the road in Warwick. The locals made quick work of the host Patriots, sweeping the match by the scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-22. It was first win away from home for Mt. Hope during the torrid stretch.
Gianna Lunney, back in the lineup after missing time with injury, had eight service aces and 10 assists for the locals, who were minus the services of lead hitter Abby Allen. The superb fall of Sarah Wilcox continued as she added six aces, had 10 digs and put down four kills in Allen's absence.
"We keep piecing it together. We were missing one of our impact starters that night, but we pulled it together and held onto our streak. We’re working for it now," said MHHS head coach Lisa Lunney.
The run reached lucky "No. 7" last Thursday night, Oct. 17, as the host Huskies swept away Westerly by a 3-0 count in their annual "Pink Out" game in support of breast cancer awareness.
The locals sent the Bulldogs home with a 25-20, 25-18, 25-13 defeat. Wilcox had another superb all-around match for the Huskies with five kills, eight digs and eight service aces while Lunney had 10 assists and added six aces.
"We had a game plan and they executed well," Coach Lunney said of her Huskies after the Westerly win. "It was a strong serving night for us. We still have some work to do, but we just keep tweaking a little at a time. We are still not 100% healthy, but we are deep and everyone is stepping up and doing their job. I’m proud of this crew. They're a very resilient bunch of athletes."
Against Tiverton the next night, October 18, the Huskies were sternly tested by the Division-III Tigers. The locals dropped the first set, 25-16, but answered with 25-16, 25-23 and 25-20 wins to up their streak to eight.
Wilcox had 10 kills and six aces. Lunney added five aces and 14 assists. Mia Hansen had four aces and 15 digs.
"Yeah, that was an eye-opener for us. I don't know if they just saw D-III and didn't know what to expect," Coach Lunney said, crediting Tiverton for a fine effort in defeat. "Honestly, the girls are super tired too. We just played last night. They left a lot of there. So, it was a little messy today, but they're figuring out how to get the W. And we're still dealing with some health issues. So we'll just continue to take the Ws and hopefully get healthy real quick."
Lunney is fond of providing her club with inspirational quotes before each match. She's recently used one more than once. It's by the famed mid-20th Century English writer CS Lewis, whose most familiar work in the present day likely is "The Chronicles of Narnia."
“'You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending,'" Lunney said, reading the Lewis phrase. "We're doing our best to make that happen."
Wilcox, the Huskies' outstanding junior all-around talent, credits the words and actions of Lunney as part of the reason for Mt. Hope's success to date.
"We're just pulling it all together, thanks to coach. We love her. It's all thanks to her. I swear," Wilcox explained. "It's been tough. I've had to play many positions that aren't mine. I enjoyed it. It was good to learn something new. I was the setter. I was the libero against Cumberland. It's definitely different. You have to adjust. But I think we've made up for it. I think we're on our way."
The Huskies, who went 13-2 in the regular season a year ago and lost to above-mentioned Cumberland in the D-II tourney semis, want the victories to keep on coming. Some in sports, however, hold the belief it's better for a team who's been on a long winning streak to see it end before the start of the playoffs. Neither coach nor player ascribe to that notion.
"We want to win. We want to win. We're going to be aggressive. We want to play aggressive. We have to stay aggressive. We. Want. To. Win. We want it bad, but we have to play like it," said Wilcox.
Added Coach Lunney, "I want us to win out. I want us to finish it out. We've had enough losses. We're OK. We took them all at the beginning. Now we're just pushing to win all the way out. That's our plan. They'll be other teams that will have a similar plan and will try to impede our plan. But that's alright. We're just going to try to keep pushing."
The Huskies close out their regular season with an away match Monday, Oct. 21, in Exeter-West Greenwich at 6:30 p.m., then host their home finale on Wednesday night, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. against Middletown. The locals will end the week participating in a four-team tourney hosted by Juanita Sanchez in Providence with Burrillville and North Smithfield Friday night, Oct. 25, also at 6 p.m.