The Irish won the Sectional, which took place in the Welch Activity Center, on Oct. 17, defeating North Central in the afternoon semifinal 19-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-16 then going on to take out Lawrence North in the Sectional championship 25-12, 25-22, 25-23.

The team now heads to the Regional, which will take place Oct. 24 at Greenfield-Central, where the Irish will take on Yorktown.

At this level of the tournament, Head Coach Mrs. Mary Hemer ‘09 said, “Our team’s main goal is to always focus on our side of the court, maintaining our energy and effort, and making the other team beat us and not give away points with silly mistakes.

“Our schedule is arguably one of the toughest in the state, but our team embraces the fact that we play for the chance at a championship, not a stellar regular season record. This means that our girls grind it out against the toughest in the state and country every match, every week in order to prepare themselves for a run deep into the state tournament.”

In an email the coach wrote, “These girls have been battle tested repeatedly this season, and have come out even stronger than they started. It takes a lot of maturity to battle the best in the state day in and day out like we have this season and not get frustrated or give up. Our girls truly embody the Fighting Irish persona, and I’m so excited to see them continue in the postseason tournament and begin to realize the true extent of their potential.”

Hemer noted that senior Lucia Corsaro surpassed 1,000 digs in her career on Sept. 30. Senior Sarah Casper “started” the last match of the regular season, as Casper been out due to a torn ACL from the beginning of September. She was subbed out before play began to a standing ovation from both the Irish and opponent’s fans.