Published in the April 20, 2021 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High volleyball team beat Reading 3-2 in the first round of the Middlesex League playoffs last night at the Charbonneau Field House, setting up a quarterfinal matchup against Lexington on the road today at 4 p.m.
In their first ever playoff game (and win) Wakefield also earned their first victory over Reading in program history.
Earned might be an understatement.
After the Rockets took the first set 25-20, the Warriors battled back to win a wild second set 25-22 and built off that momentum to take a 2-1 lead after winning the third set 25-19. Reading forced a fifth with a 25-19 win in set four and the Warriors overcame a 7-3 deficit in the final set to win it 18-16.
“If you think positive things, positive things will happen,” said Kayla Wyland who now has her Warriors at 7-4 overall in her first season as head coach. “These girls have worked so hard and totally deserved this. My instant reaction is just gratitude for these girls and what they were willing to give. I’m so proud of them. They really defended our court and trusted each other and did their job and that’s been our message this week: you don’t need to do anything more, you know what your job is so as long as you’re doing that and trusting your teammates to do their job, we’ll be successful; I think they really bought into that.
“We’ve never had a playoff showing, ever. That can be very nerve-wracking and they decided to just come in, play hard and play our game.”
Throughout five, high-intensity, pressure-packed sets, the Warriors put together strong hitting, fearless defense and all-out energy.
Senior captain Hailey Burke (8 kills, 2 blocks), junior Maddy Seabury (8 kills, 2 blocks, 5 digs) and Mia Desruisseaux (7 kills, 17 digs) led the hitting; Hannah Kelley (22 digs), Amanda Nett (18 digs), Claire Donahue (15 digs, 5 aces) and Desruisseaux led the defense and Butler did it all, setting up her teammates with 23 assists, picking up big points with 7 kills, serving 4 aces and collecting 8 digs.
All the while, a fan base of Warrior family members pushed the team on in the biggest of moments, none more so than during their fifth set comeback when Wakefield went on a 6-0 run to turn a 7-3 deficit into a 9-7 lead thanks in part to a clutch backwards kill on a broken third shot by Nett, a kill from Desruisseaux and an ace from Seabury.
Burke had multiple highlight reel plays in the final set, first a block to reclaim the lead at 11-10, then a rip from the middle to later tie it back up at 12 and finally an acrobatic save to keep alive a ball hit off the Warrior side of the net that later resulted in a 17-16 lead.
“We just took our opportunities and rolled with it,” said Burke. “We played to every last ball and every last point.”
Before that, a Reading ace put the visitors one point away from advancing but Desruisseaux came through with a strong hit to tie it again. The Warriors ended it when Talia Thomson (3 kills, 4 digs) returned her initially blocked shot down the right sideline and in to set off a celebration that sounded as if the field house was packed to the brim.
“It’s never felt like this,” said Butler of the environment last night. “This year has been amazing for us. We’ve never had that much energy on the court and you can feel it – everybody wants it, everybody’s in.”
The Warriors started slow in the first set and never found their rhythm.
During a second set that featured 10 ties and five lead changes, Wakefield battled back from a 7-3 deficit. A fake set and kill from Butler evened it up at 10 and Burke took the lead for Wakefield with a block kill. Donahue later got the crowd going with an incredible save while running backward that led to a point.
Mirroring much of the match overall, Wakefield needed to reset after a few errors and mishits resulted in a 17-15 lead for Reading and forced Wyland to use a timeout.
“We talked a lot about, mistakes are going to happen but what is your reaction to those mistakes? How are you going to use it to help you? That comes with our discipline, perseverance and composure – we always go back to that: Are we going to stay composed even though we made a mistake and what can you say to a teammate during those times? How can you keep up the energy and trust each other that they might not have gotten that one but I know they’ll get the next one and just staying up and believing?”
An emphatic Seabury kill out of the timeout set the tone and a Donahue ace later pushed the lead to 20-18, but Reading made Wakefield earn it, cutting the lead to 23-22 before Butler and Seabury kills got Wakefield their first set win over Reading in program history.
The Warriors again needed to work out of trouble in the third set, at one point trailing 17-12 leading to another timeout. Their response would be a 13-2 run to end the set with a 25-19 win. Some key points included two kills from Desruisseaux, a Seabury block and a clutch Butler dig on a strong spike that kept alive a great rally resulting in a Warrior point and 21-18 lead.
Reading returned the favor in the fourth set, closing on an 8-0 run to win it 25-19.
Volleyball is perhaps the most momentum-based sport ever created. In those moments, how do you turn an 8-0 run that became a 15-3 run into the fifth, around?
“Every time we make a mistake, I say ‘settle in,’” said Burke. “This is our chance to settle in and reset, pretend like it’s the first point of the set again.”
In that way, the Warriors were able to reset through multiple deficits, point to point and set to set.
“I think we really just pick each other up,” said Butler. “If someone makes a mistake the whole team is there at their side to bring them back up, get their energy back up so they can go fix it on the next play.”
Without that energy, the Warriors could not have made history.
They will look to make more today in Lexington at 4 p.m. Follow us on Twitter @Wakeitemsports for live updates.
