ConVal volleyball sweeps Hollis-Brookline to build postseason momentum

The ConVal volleyball team looked sharp in a three-set win over Hollis-Brookline last week and could have all the pieces to be a threatening opponent in the postseason. 

The Cougars have 10 seniors on the team, giving them above-average experience, and while they’ve had to shift around into new roles to fill the spots vacated by last year’s three graduates, they’ve done it quickly. 

“They know they have big shoes to fill, but they know they can fill them,” said ConVal head coach Jess Weeks after Wednesday’s win, “and they believe that they can fill them. This is just a good group that has played together for the last four years, whether it was JV or varsity, they were playing together and they’ve only gotten better.”

ConVal is tough all across the front with seniors Emily Simard, Piper Bernier, Colby Harris and Kaylee Mesick along with junior Julianna Stone, who has stepped up as they all try to replace the kills and blocks that now-Franklin Pierce Raven Ivy Armstrong-McEvoy provided last year. Bernier and Simard moved from middle to outside hitter and their replacements have fared well. 

“[Stone] swung a little bit last year,” Bernier said. “She’s a junior now and she’s definitely really stepped up into this role. She’s really tried so hard and I think she’s building on her skill. It’s really funny because every game we do our personal goals and her goal is always to do something cool. And she always accomplishes it.”

Senior setter Ava Van Horn has the skill to set up her teammates, the savvy to steal points on a second ball and the athleticism to go up and take a swing when needed; behind her, the Cougars have feisty libero Grace Schunemann and seasoned vets Regan Kirlin and Lila Grissett.

Hollis-Brookline (7-4) came into the game higher in the standings than ConVal, but you wouldn’t have known it from the first two sets, which the Cougars dominated with ease. In set three, however, the Cavs took the lead as their raucous traveling student section got loud and got behind their team. ConVal could have easily folded and come back to fight another set, but they dug deep, mustered up some fans of their own and closed it out in three sets. 

“In the third set, it was very competitive and back-to-back,” Schuneman said, “but we just pushed through, and the student section, it really helped us out. Ignoring their student section made us focus on what we needed to do to end the third set.”

ConVal (6-3) is in the midst of a tough stretch; they were shut out by undefeated No. 1 Oyster River Friday night and have Coe-Brown (6-4) and Somersworth (9-0) next. If the Cougars are to host a playoff game, Coach Weeks needs to pull out some wins to get ConVal up out of the 10th seed and into the top half of the division. She has her hands full already; after previous coach Annie Keating resigned early this fall, Weeks found herself coaching the varsity, JV and freshman teams – a tall order for anyone. But if any team can do it, it’s this tight-knit ten-senior squad. 

“We’re going to the playoffs,” Weeks said. “How far? I don’t know, but I think they believe it. And they know that we can do well. And as long as we believe it and work together like we did tonight – I mean, that was incredible teamwork tonight. That’s the best we played as a team all season.”