Young Mascenic girls’ volleyball squad works through growing pains

Mascenic’s Maya Oliviera, left, and Fiona Alix share a high five.

Mascenic’s Maya Oliviera, left, and Fiona Alix share a high five. BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Mascenic's Payton LaFreniere readies to serve against Concord Christian.

Mascenic's Payton LaFreniere readies to serve against Concord Christian. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

The Mascenic girls' volleyball team celebrates after scoring a point against Concord Christian Wednesday.

The Mascenic girls' volleyball team celebrates after scoring a point against Concord Christian Wednesday. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Mascenic’s Lyla Somero spikes one against Concord Christian.

Mascenic’s Lyla Somero spikes one against Concord Christian. BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Mascenic’s Lyla Somero hits a spike against Concord Christian.

Mascenic’s Lyla Somero hits a spike against Concord Christian. BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Mascenic’s injured senior captain Val Stenersen listens in during a huddle.

Mascenic’s injured senior captain Val Stenersen listens in during a huddle. BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Mascenic head coach Lauren Somero instructs her team. 

Mascenic head coach Lauren Somero instructs her team.  BEN CONANT / BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

 Mascenic senior captain Emma McInnis gets down for a dig against Concord Christian.

 Mascenic senior captain Emma McInnis gets down for a dig against Concord Christian. BEN CONANT—BEN CONANT PHOTOGRAPHY

By BEN CONANT

For the Ledger-Transcript

Published: 10-07-2024 12:03 PM

The Mascenic girls’ volleyball team is growing in fits and starts and still finding its identity halfway through their Division III season.

For the better part of the last decade, the Vikings seemed to be title contenders nearly every season. This year, they’re in the middle of the DIII pack – below the usual standard, but not bad for a rebuild year. Mascenic returned just two seniors this fall, co-captains Val Stenersen and Emma McInnis, but lost Stenersen to injury just before the season started. That leaves head coach Lauren Somero with lots of work to do.

“This is a really green team,” Somero said after Wednesday night’s three-set loss to visiting Concord Christian. “We lost five players from last season, and then Val Stenersen – who obviously is a huge physical and emotional leader – was out the night before our opener, so it’s a lot to overcome for a young team. We’re playing good volleyball in spurts and then looking like a green team in spurts, and that’s kind of what growth looks like. It’s not always comfortable, and there are nights like tonight where it’s a little bit uncomfortable, but there’s a really bright future.”

After a season-opening five-set loss to Moultonborough, Mascenic ran off five straight victories before a loss last week at Epping and Wednesday’s shutout by the Kingsmen. That macro streakiness was apparent at the micro level Wednesday, where the Vikings strung together some dominant service work in between bouts of ineffective reception.

“What put us away is that we made a lot of hitting errors and made a lot of receive errors,” Somero said. “I thought we received really well in the first set; even though we lost by a large margin, we actually received pretty well. But we made a lot of hitting errors tonight, and we need to be more efficient than that if we’re going to play at a high level.”

Mascenic’s struggles were due in no small part to their tough Concord Christian opponent and their trio of senior stars: outside hitter Lylah Shumway, middle hitter Sadie Thompson and setter Abby Owens.

Somero said the Vikings gameplanned to keep the ball away from Shumway, but didn’t always execute. Any time Shumway got a clean receive, it was straight up to Owens for a set back to Shumway or to Thompson, and more often than not, it was a Kingsman kill.

“I haven’t seen every setter in the state of New Hampshire, but I would feel confident saying that [Owens] is in the top five in the entire state in every division,” Somero said. “She was good last year and she’s very, very, very good this year.”

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The Vikings were solid in the service game, scoring off some service streaks from Brooke Bishop, Lyla Somero (six kills, three digs, one ace), Ava Krook (three kills, two digs, one ace) and Payton LaFreniere (three kills, one dig, one ace).

Mascenic was good in the first set but went down relatively quickly thanks to CCA’s strong offense.

In the second, the Vikings overcame an early deficit, put together some good serves and built the energy up enough to force a pair of Kingsman timeouts and grab a 20-16 lead. But Concord Christian, unwavering, rallied back and scored nine straight points to take the set, the momentum and ultimately, the match.

At their best, the Vikings are a bit sharper than they looked Wednesday.

Ideally, they rely on their freshman libero Maya Oliviera and freshman setter Fiona Alix to set the table for hitters Lyla Somero and McInnis. Concord Christian was able to take away the middle, but as the underclassmen adjust to the game speed, they will be better able to play their game, and the Mascenic rebuild will start rising from its strong foundation.

“We’ve had a lot of surprises this season, but you know, we’re putting one brick up at a time,” coach Somero said.

The Vikings moved to 6-3 on the season with a 3-0 win over Conant Friday behind Oliviera’s career-high 14 aces. Mascenic hosts Trinity Wednesday.