LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield volleyball team came into this season with thoughts of a Division 4 state championship, and after a long season the Pioneers have worked their way to within two wins of the coveted trophy.
“This is what we’ve worked toward all year,” said Lynnfield coach Brent Ashley. “We came into this year knowing that we had a talented group, but we also lost a lot of girls from last year’s team so there was no telling how we’d play early on. But we’ve continued to grow all year, and it’s gotten us a long way.”
A large contributor to the Pioneers’ success has been junior star Ella Gizmunt, who is widely considered one of the top players in the state. Additional contributions from the likes of Grace Davie, Sarah Foley, Giuliana Guarracino and a host of others has also helped propel Lynnfield.
The Pioneers earned the No. 2 seed in the Division 4 tournament, good enough to get them a bye in the preliminary round. The first opponent Lynnfield saw was No. 34 Wahconah, and the Pioneers raced to a 3-0 victory. Gizmunt continued to lead the way in the win, notching 12 kills to go along with 10 aces and 10 digs. Davie put up a big game with seven kills, while Guarracino also notched seven kills.
The win pushed Lynnfield into the Round of 16 round against No. 15 South Lancaster and the results were the same, with the Pioneers running away 3-0. Gizmunt had 13 kills, while Davie added eight kills.
The story continued the same way in the quarterfinal, with Lynnfield rolling to another 3-0 win, this time over No. 7 Arlington Catholic.
Over on the other side of the bracket, Lynnfield’s semifinal opponent — No. 3 Medway — was doing some rolling of its own. After earning a bye in the preliminary round, the Mustangs took down No. 30 Greater Lawrence and No. 14 Malden Catholic to get into the quarterfinal. With an easy 3-0 win over No. 11 Rockland, Medway set its date with Lynnfield.
The Division 4 semifinal between Lynnfield (19-4) and Medway will take place Wednesday afternoon (4:30) at a neutral site at Woburn High School.