The Viking girls’ volleyball team is on the rise this fall thanks to improving underclassmen, a few strong newcomers and some steady seniors. Mascenic put it all on display in a disciplined, dominant 3-0 win over visiting Raymond Monday night.
“If we can continue to put games like that together, then I think this team could sit somewhere in the top six or eight for sure and make a deep playoff run,” said Viking head coach Lauren Somero after the game. “I don’t think it’s outrageous to think this team is going to the semifinals or something like that.”
Returning Division III First Team All-State middle hitter Lyla Somero (16 kills) was on fire Monday night, taking set after set from sophomore Fiona Alix (20 assists) and spiking the Vikes to victory. Coach Somero said her squad stuck to the gameplan by keeping Raymond’s dynamic outside hitter Lucille Donahue out of her offense; the first step toward neutralizing her was an aggressive service game, and seniors Payton Lafreniere (four aces) and Brooke Bishop (six aces) both had a couple demoralizing service runs that aided the Vikings to insurmountable set leads, and junior Maya Oliveira chipped in two aces as well.
“When we didn’t ace them, we got the ball back in free,” Somero said, “which is great because if you give [Donahue] the ball on a nice pass, then she’s probably gonna shove it down your throat.”
The Vikings, though challenged by the Rams at some stretches, essentially cruised to a 3-0 win.
“Every single thing we talked about in practice last night, they just executed,” Somero said. “It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t flawless. But they strategically got behind everything.”
The Vikings (4-1) lost the first game of the season at Moultonborough, the same way they ended last fall’s campaign in the first round. Since then, they’ve won four straight heading into Wednesday night’s rematch with Mascoma Valley (2-5). Mascenic will likely need to find a way to beat Moultonborough (6-1) at some point during the playoffs; a regular-season showdowns with No. 1 defending champion Inter-Lakes (6-0) looms during the Vikings’ home tri-match on Oct. 18 that will also feature Portsmouth Christian, and both Belmont (6-1) and Farmington (5-1) look strong this season.
Mascenic only lost two players from last year’s team to graduation; now, Lafreniere, Bishop and Ava Krook are the elder statesmen, and they’re showing their experience, but it’s the progression of their newer players that may determine the Vikings’ ceiling. Junior Bre McCabe, who returns to the district after previously attending The Derryfield School, hasn’t played volleyball for some years, but has a high sports IQ and athleticism that’s made her a contributor right away. Freshman Lia Rosnov is 5’11” with big vertical and a strong swing; as those two improve, so too will the Vikings.
“Usually by the varsity level, the curve in which players grow starts to level a little bit,” Somero said. “But because of those new pieces that are … kind of first-year players, they’re growing week after week, so it’s really hard to know how far this team could go.”
Mascenic hosts Epping Friday at 6 p.m.