NATICK – The historic streak continues for the two-time defending state champs.
Behind its common dose of well-rounded contributions and its seemingly innate focus in every massive second, No. 1 Needham (5-0) withstood a bevy of surges from No. 3 Natick (3-1) to take a 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-21) road win Thursday afternoon in a battle of Bay State Convention powers.
Ethan McCarron’s 14 kills flexed the strongest in a price that seen 4 others register a minimal of three kills, pairing with Alex Gundaker’s six blocks, Jonathan Ochalla’s 20 digs, and a setting trio’s 30 combined assists to tempo this technique’s 51st straight victory.
After the RedHawks topped fellow title contender No. 2 Newton North on Tuesday, eyes turned to this matchup as an early measuring stick for a approach considered one of many state’s bests stacks as a lot because the premier contender from the earlier two seasons. Natick virtually acquired the first set and matched blow for blow all by means of lots of the competitors, nonetheless Needham handed with flying colors to remain the early favorite.
As always, though, the Rockets are centered on the large picture.
“It’s win, I feel we now have some issues we are able to work on (and) I feel each groups will likely be higher the second time round,” Needham head coach Dave Powell talked about. “I believed each groups made some strings of errors, I feel we could be a little extra regular. … It’s baseline, basis. I hope we are able to make lots of progress if we hold at it.”
“We’ve simply received to remain the course,” McCarron added. “In fact, it feels good to win. However on the finish of the day, it’s only a common season sport. Simply received to maintain the prepare on the tracks and all that.”
Natick proved every bit as troublesome as marketed in spurts all by means of, forcing a low margin for error in essential moments. Needham delivered each time.
As Nicholas Bonavire (six kills, ace, block), Department Barnes (9 assists, 4 kills, block), Harrison Landry (10 assists, two kills), Matthew Salerno (seven kills, 5 aces) and libero Shawn Ferguson stood out to help Natick rally twice late inside the opening set, the Rockets didn’t lose focus after allowing a 24-21 lead flip proper right into a 24-24 ranking. Following a Natick service error, Raymond Weng (16 assists, 5 kills, 9 digs) associated with Brian Cloonan (4 kills) to win the set.
Salerno caught fireplace alongside along with his serve midway by the use of the second, using three aces in a 5-0 run to current Natick a 10-8 lead. A service error gave the ball once more to Needham, and Alex Gundaker (three kills, six blocks) used three blocks in a 7-2 run correct after to regain administration. Owen Ching (12 assists) and Devin Dellamarggio (two assists, ace) paired with Weng to provide some top quality models to cease any true rally inside the 25-18 win. After which there was McCarron and Luke Lorence (seven kills), who combined for 11 kills inside the remaining stanza to help finish off the match no matter Natick most important 14-11 and pulling even at 20-20 late inside the third.
“Simply ensuring we don’t get complacent, be sure we shut out each set (was the mentality),” McCarron talked about. “We simply don’t need to really feel too comfy ever, even when we now have an enormous lead. Simply received to remain impartial and keep the course. That was our mindset typically.”
