11 November, 2016
Hillers Volleyball has had a great season so far and kept it going with a 3-1 playoff win in the Sectional Semi-Finals over Westborough. The Hillers have shutout 16 teams this season and dominated in TVL play, only having 1 loss in division play.
To start off the postseason, the Hillers swept Medway for the 3rd time this season to advance to the Central Division 2 Semi-Finals. Mikayla Pucci (8 Kills), Amanda Gilbert (7 Kills), and Julia Canestrari (6 Kills) led the way offensively for the Hillers. Medway had a few nice runs but the Hillers took all 3 matches: 25-11, 25-22 and 25-16.
In the Semi-Finals round, the Hillers met up with Westborough. This season was the 3rd straight year, the Hillers met up with Westborough in the postseason. In 2014, the Hillers advanced past Westborough in a year which they took home the State Championship after defeating Weston in the title game, in 2015, Westborough took down Hopkinton and the Rangers advanced to the State Championship but lost to Notre Dame Academy. The 2016 Hillers started off nearly perfect against Westborough as they took the first 2 matches (25-11) and (25-20). Westborough proved they were not going to be an easy out as they went back and forth with the Hillers in Match 3 and took it (25-21). Every point in match 4 was a battle for both teams but in the end, the Hillers edged Westborough 25-23 to advance to the Central Division 2 championship. In the victory against Westborough, Amanda Gilbert and Julia Canestrari served as the backbone of the offense racking up 15 kills each.
The 1st seeded (19-2) Hopkinton Hillers next play Saturday (11/12) 4pm at Wellesley High School against the 2nd seeded (18-3) Canton Bulldogs. Look for the recording of the game airing on HCAM and available on our youtube page.
