BROOKLINE – As a comparatively younger workforce, No. 9 Brookline prides itself on limiting errors and developing with essentially sound performs to scrap previous its opponents whereas it continues to seek for its identification.
And when No. 8 Newton North utilized highly effective hitting to storm again from a two-set deficit on the highway Tuesday afternoon, these resilient Warriors discovered a option to scrap their manner once more towards their most signature win but.
With Nikhil Wong (35 assists) spreading the wealth in a lopsided remaining body, Brookline (4-2) got here again to life on the excellent time to carry off a robust Tigers (2-4) group for a 3-2 Bay State Conference win (25-20, 25-16, 20-25, 15-25, 15-7). Four completely different gamers recorded kills within the fifth set, completely reversing the Warriors’ fortunes from third and fourth units that noticed Newton North’s Kaz Veitas (27 kills) and Adam Christianson (10 kills, 7 assists) take over for a vicious two-set comeback.
“When you play a good team and let go of the rope a little bit, they make you pay,” mentioned Brookline head coach Dana Jones. “What we kind of hang our hat on (is) trying to use the pieces that we have get through. … We were able to use our strengths (to pull it off).”
A small dose from quite a lot of gamers within the fifth made the win occur, getting again to the sound fundamentals it demonstrated to construct the 2-0 set lead. Jason Rich (10 kills), Fletcher Poon (9 kills), Cam Jilek (8 kills, 2 blocks), Tesema Bos-Sullivan (6 kills) and Jacob Smagula all performed vital roles, getting off to a lead as giant as 11-2 whereas Newton North couldn’t get its footing again below it.
After falling in its solely different five-set match this season, the grit that Brookline confirmed felt extraordinarily impactful because the season kicks into its center stage.
“Communication was a big thing (today), and we made sure we were connecting,” Smagula mentioned. “It shows that we can win, and that we’re going to keep winning. That’s what (this) means. If we can win here, we’ll keep winning.”
As Newton North handled key accidents, it couldn’t appear to get constant factors early regardless of thunderous hits from Veitas and Christianson. Part of that got here from sturdy protection from Brookline, one other from the 23 hitting and repair errors it dedicated to result in losses within the first two units.
The Tigers got here alive within the subsequent two, although, with Veitas erupting for 11 of his kills in a 25-20 third set, and the Warriors committing 13 errors in a 25-16 fourth. Simon Vardeh, usually an outdoor hitter, had 25 assists for Newton North.
“It was like a pity party, and then we kind of stepped it up and came back after that second set,” mentioned Tigers head coach Nile Fox. “The fifth set, it looked like we forgot how to play volleyball. … (Brookline) was very scrappy. They picked up everything, everything (Veitas and Christianson) tried to put down, they picked it up. Kudos to them, they played well.”
Ellis Cowan and Leo Sherman additionally carried out nicely on the web for Brookline within the win.
Source: www.bostonherald.com