Bellingham reaches D3 final with sweep over Lynnfield

WESTWOOD – It didn’t matter that Bellingham moved up from Division 4 to Division 3 this season.

The road led back to the state final for the Blackhawks.

Led by junior middle hitter Mia Milani, top-seeded Bellingham secured its third consecutive trip to the state championship volleyball match Wednesday by sweeping No. 4 Lynnfield, 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 27-25), at Westwood High’s Bader Gymnasium.

“This one’s a little sweeter,” Bellingham head coach Steve Mantegani said. “I don’t think anybody counted on us being where we were, and the kids played great all year. So we’re pretty excited about it.”

Bellingham (21-2) won’t run into Ipswich in the state final like the previous two years – both times resulted in losses for the Blackhawks – and will try to lift the crown against the winner of No. 2 Medfield and No. 3 Case.

Bellingham and Lynnfield (21-3) went back-and-forth to start the state semifinal tilt until the Blackhawks closed out the first set on an 11-3 run. Milani was a big part of that with three straight aces, while sophomore Kaleigh Sampson finished off the set with a kill.

Milani, who finished with six aces, then took over in the second set with a dominant display. She tallied five of her team-high 11 kills in the frame as Bellingham raced out to an 18-10 lead to seize complete control.

“She’s just a gamer,” Mantegani said. “She works so hard. She’s hard on herself more often than not. But she digs herself out, and she just played big. She’s a leader.”

It wasn’t just Milani for Bellingham, though. The Blackhawks received great serving from junior libero Sophia Soto while senior outside hitter Val Nolan provided eight kills.

The Blackhawks needed those three plus more to hold off Lynnfield in the third set. Bellingham was in jeopardy of dropping its first set in over a month with Audrey Manning powering the Pioneers to a 21-16 lead.

But Bellingham fought back with kills from Nolan and Aubrey Callery while getting solid serving from Mady De Oliveira to thwart Lynnfield and get back to the place the Blackhawks desired all along.

“When you’re down, or even when you’re ahead, you can’t look at the score. It’s such a long way to 25, anything can happen,” Milani said. “That was a great team, and I think at the end of the day we leaned on each other and used our hard work and didn’t give up.”