Stephanie Lauria

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (WWLP) - The Longmeadow girls volleyball team is going back to the state tournament.  Lancers senior Stephanie Lauria was part of a senior-laden team that won the Western Mass tournament last year.
This year she is the senior leading the Lancers into states and she is the 22News athlete of the week.

"This is what we've been working towards all season and we knew this was it", says Lauria.  She continues, "we knew if we didn't bring our "A" game they (West Springfield) would take the title and we really wanted it."

It was a fitting ending to the Western Mass title game.  Lauria, the Lancers senior captain finished the game with a spike. It gave the Lancers the win over West Side and their 3rd straight Western Mass title. It is always difficult to repeat, let alone 3-peat.

"It's kind of intimidating, everyone wants to beat us, but it makes us work even harder to get the win", says Lauria.

Lauria works hard during and in between points. As a captain she says it's part of her job to motivate and energize the team.

"I just figured that this is my last year and wanted to be a part of this Western Mass win", says Lauria.  She adds, "I just tried my hardest and so did the team and we made it this far, so we're going to keep going."

Now there's a road block. The Lancers haven't advanced to the state finals during this impressive run.

"This year I think we can make it past that level and I'm really excited to see what happens", says Lauria. 

Longmeadow will play Bourne in the state semifinals Wednesday night at Westborough high school.