WAKEFIELD’s senior captains led the way in the team’s 3-1 win over Swampscott on Friday night. Pictured from left to right is Carlee Graham, Christa Imbriano and Mia Forti. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High volleyball team picked up a key win over Swampscott on Friday night at the Charbonneau Field House. It was Wakefield’s second win of the season as they look to bounce back from a challenging first half of the schedule.
“This was a great non-league win for us,” said head coach Kayla Wyland. “We played very scrappy and gritty on the court. We have talked a lot about playing smart, but not safe. What helped us a lot was keeping Swampscott out of system and utilizing free balls to the best of our ability.”
Also helping the Warriors were senior captains Mia Forti and Christa Imbriano.
Imbriano, the team’s libero, came up with 34 digs to lead a strong Warrior defensive effort and also added 3 aces in key moments.
Forti was second on the team with 10 kills.
Junior Savannah Cummings paced the Warriors with 13 kills.
Sophomore Brooklyn Calder also added 3 aces as Wakefield served well in all four sets.
Wakefield won the first set 25-17 and held on to win a wild second set 25-23.
“We have been working on staying composed and consistent on the court,” said Wyland, traits that certainly helped Wakefield take a commanding 2-0 lead against the Big Blue. “We seem to really have found our identity as a team.”
That gritty identity centered on ultimate effort certainly served the home team well on Friday night, especially after dropping the third set 25-21.
Rather than release all the momentum of the match, Wakefield quickly turned the page in a critical 4th set, coming back from a 7-2 deficit and feeding off the support of a rowdy Red Sea student section decked out in all black, many coming down from Landrigan Field after watching the football team beat Stoneham.
Meredith Morris earned a key kill on a strong adjustment at the net to make it 10-9 Swampscott and Wakefield tied on a double hit.
An ace from Paige Butland extended the lead to 12-10 and the Warriors took off from there, a huge Forti kill off a Lea Carangelo dish making it 14-10.
Swampscott battled back to make it 15-13 but Forti responded with another well-struck kill.
A towering block-kill at the net by Cummings later extended the lead to 19-15 and Calder’s last ace made it 20-15.
Next, Cummings from the middle finally ended an epic volley and the junior finished it up with two more emphatic kills following an ace from Emily Herson.
Wakefield built on that win by earning an epic, 3-2 victory over Reading last night, bringing their record to 3-8 on the season. A full story will appear at a later date.
The Warriors will look to push their winning streak to three when they host 2-6 Stoneham on Thursday at 6:30 p.m
“The focus during practice has been great. The team really has been utilizing what we have been breaking down and working on in practice to help us be successful in matches,” said Wyland. “The key to our success is continuing to have confidence in ourselves and really going all out each and every point.
“This team has some of the most hard-working and dedicated athletes. Their work is starting to show in our success recently on the court.”
