Each time the Mascenic girls’ volleyball team breaks their huddle, the Viking girls shout out in unison: “Play 20!”
Each full-throated cry is a reminder of Mascenic’s goal for the season: make the most of their opportunities by playing all 20 possible regular-season and playoff games and taking a shot at the title.
“We want to play every game,” head coach Lauren Somero said after Wednesday’s 3-0 shutout win over visiting Moultonborough. “We don’t want to leave any on the table. We want to go to the finals.”
Despite starting out hot — the Vikings are undefeated so far — Somero said the team has talked about pursuing its goals with discipline.
“We know that a lot of teams, most teams, end their season in a loss,” Somero said. “But we’re … unapologetic is the best way to put it, where we say it every day. We want to play 20 games. We we want to go all the way. We have enough talent to do it.”
Coach Somero’s daughter Lyla leads the Vikings from the front row, but her journey began years ago on the varsity bench watching Mascenic make a finals run. She’s had her sights set on this senior season ever since.
“I’ve always just looked up and been like, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do,'” Lyla said. “Going to Pinkerton to see them all play like in front of a million people and just thinking ‘That’s the big stage that I want to play on.’ Now, I feel like my senior year we have the best chance to do it. We have all the right girls and all the right attitude as well, so I feel like everyone’s on the same page.”
Mascenic already won easily over Franklin, Sunapee, Moultonborough and Conant; the Vikings’ only set loss of the season came in a 3-1 victory over Trinity. So far, the bigger challenge has been improving while playing lesser competition with bigger games looming on the horizon.
“We just make sure that every single day, we’re taking the opportunities at practice in and outside of the gym,” Lyla said. “We always talk about being team first and doing the extras, like even not in the gym, but at school, making sure we’re working hard and everything so that nothing can get in the way of the final goal. We work as hard as we can in every situation.”
Lyla is joined by Lia Rosnov at the net; the two make an imposing pair and are spaced out to ensure at least one of those two big hitters are in the front at any given time. Lyla had 17 kills against Moultonborough and Rosnov added nine. Setter Fiona Alix (28 assists) distributes the ball, and when it’s not Lyla or Rosnov, it’s pin players Bre McCabe, Avery Cormier and Sadie Stevens making the points.
“We’re hoping that with the improved pin players that we have in Bre, Avery and Sadie, we can diversify enough to pull the block off of [Lyla and Rosnov] here and there,” Somero said. “That’s something that’s new to us. And I think probably one of our biggest strengths is that we have five solid hitters and a good setter.”
Maya Oliveira is also a sturdy contributor who serves well; she had a pair of aces Wednesday night, while Cormier reeled off 16 aces.
The Vikings host Winnisquam (4-2) at home Tuesday, travel to Inter-Lakes (2-3) Wednesday and then play two skilled teams in a row: Farmington (6-1) and Portsmouth Christian (6-0). The only other undefeated team in Division III is St. Thomas, whom the Vikings face on the road Oct. 6. How Mascenic looks on the other side of those games should be a good indicator of their progress.
“The challenge for me is how do we get better … so that when we are playing [Portsmouth Christian], Farmington, the teams that I expect to be in the top end, how do we make sure that we’ve grown throughout the course of getting to them?” Somero said. “We need to be efficient so that in November, that’s not new to us.”
