By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Gary Patch inherited the Hopedale volleyball team this past season and quickly took the team to the top of the mountain. The furthest the Blue Raiders had ever made it in the Division 5 state Tournament was the semi-finals three years ago. This year, Hopedale won all five of its games to capture the State Championship by defeating its opponents 15 matches to 2 posting three shutouts including the final against Smith Vocational.

Although the Blue Raiders were able to bring their first ever State Volleyball Championship home to Hopedale, Patch believes it was not his doing but that of the girls.

“Being my first year, I didn’t want to set any real high expectations, instead we would have team goals that we could meet throughout the year. I definitely didn’t think that we’d be looking to win a championship,” the coach said. “A lot of this was on the kids themselves. I have been a coach for a long time, and I threw a lot of new stuff at them, making them accountable for the changes in both the offensive and defensive systems.”

Hopedale began the season with a loss to Notre Dame Academy in Worcester, a team that would eventually go 19-1. Despite the opening night loss, the Blue Raiders were not intimated and would beat Nipmuc and Whitinsville both times, for the first time in a while. The girls then knew the possibilities that sat in front of them for the remainder of the season. 

Not long after, the first power rankings were released and Hopedale found themselves ranked number one due to their strength of schedule opponents. At that moment, the team’s confidence grew and luckily, not having a deep roster, they continued the season without any injuries and finished with a 14-6 regular season record.

Senior captains Olivia Barroso, the team’s setter, and libero Josalyn Moyer helped the first-year Hopedale coach achieve the ultimate goal. According to Patch, the two seniors played a big part in keeping the rest of the team positive while helping to adapt to the culture change that he brought to the program. 

Another senior who played an enormous part in achieving the school’s first-ever volleyball state title was Phoebe Carroll. The senior was very instrumental in being competitive with the stronger teams that Hopedale had to face. Offensively, she was the team’s most efficient player and led the team in kills. Mia Casey, a senior outside hitter, also provided some big plays to help the Blue Raiders climb the elusive mountain.

While Patch was the guiding force behind the Blue Raiders first Stat Championship, he just wanted to go through the season with an opportunity to become better.

“I’ve been doing this for so long that there was no pressure on me this year,” he said. “I just wanted the girls to progressively get better, that was our plan, while eventually making the tournament.”

Having obtained something that had eluded the team in the past, it may be very difficult to repeat next year since, the majority of this season, the coach ran with five seniors and one junior on the court.

“Next year is going to be a complete rebuild,” Patch said. “One good thing is that being a small school Hopedale can start training 7th and 8th graders in the program so that by the time they touch the ball for the first time as freshmen, they are ready to go. The experience of learning the game at practice, as well as getting to see it firsthand during games, will have them fully ready to take to the courts.”

Patch is also hoping the success the program had this year entices girls to come out for the team in the future. They have already had an elementary school clinic where 24 girls signed up – according to the coach that is a good sign for the future of volleyball at Hopedale.