WAKEFIELD — Wakefield volleyball announced their presence at the Div. 2 level on Saturday with a 3-1 home victory over Marshfield in the first round of the state tournament. Playing in their first D2 tournament after being bumped up from D3 this year, the 8th-ranked Warriors were up to the task, taking the first two sets by identical 25-18 scores and bouncing back after the visiting Rams — playing in their first state tournament since 2018 — got on the board with a 25-16 victory in set three. Wakefield finished it up with a dominant, 25-11 win in set four.
The Warriors improved to 17-4 on the season while Marshfield ended the year at 12-9.
The Warriors were led on the attack by senior captains Lila Arkinstall (12 kills) and Mia Kenny (11 kills).
Senior captain Tori Grace had 18 assists.
Senior captain Cara Carangelo led the defensive effort with 33 digs.
Kenny and Arkinstall led the way in the first set with Carangelo serving well, sparking Wakefield to an early lead.
Senior Jackie Sullivan had a few key blocks early in the second set and Grace led the charge in the team’s rally to close it.
After Marshfield controlled most of the third, the Warriors rolled from start to finish in the fourth.
Wakefield will host a Round of 16 game tomorrow night, 6 p.m. at the Charbonneau Field House against No. 9 Canton (15-6) who defeated No. 24 Masconomet 3-0 in the first round.
Wakefield will see a strong program in Canton coming to town tomorrow night. The Bulldogs were the No. 6 seed in last year’s D2 tourney, falling to No. 3 Billerica 3-2 in the quarterfinals. In 2023, Canton went undefeated in the regular season and fell to top-seeded Westborough in the Finals. Canton won the D2 state championship back in 2019.
The Bull Dogs are led by senior setter Erin Bigham who recored her 2,000th career assist in the regular season, becoming just the 9th player in state history to accomplish that feat. She had 404 helpers this season. Their attack is led by freshman outside hitter Brooke Connor (149 kills) and senior middle Chloe Dubuisson (145 kills). Dubuisson — who also has a team-high 26 blocks — should provide an exciting matchup with Wakefield’s Arkinstall in the middle. Arkinstall, the all-time kills leader in Warrior history, reached No. 200 on the season with her 12 against Marshfield. Kenny has 187 on the year.
Helping Arkinstall in the middle against Dubuisson will be Sullivan who had 56 blocks in the regular season.
Wakefield will also count on strong serving from Carangelo (78 aces in the regular season), Grace (46) and senior Brendia Diaz (47). Carangelo led the team with 243 digs followed by Kenny (132) and Diaz (95).
Grace (320 regular season assists) and senior Allison Cook (242) set up the attack for Wakefield.
The winner of tomorrow night’s match will advance to the Div. 2 state quarterfinals where they will play the winner of No. 1 Oliver Ames vs. No. 16 Hingham.