METHUEN – With five-set losses in every of their earlier three matchups, together with a reverse sweep final 12 months, it appeared just like the Chelmsford boys volleyball staff had Methuen’s quantity irrespective of who the Rangers placed on the courtroom.
Not anymore.
As a part of one other Merrimack Valley Conference rock battle, Sixteenth-seeded Methuen (13-8) snapped its dropping streak in opposition to No. 17 Chelmsford (12-9) with a 3-1 win (25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22) in a Div. 1 first-round matchup Monday night time.
James Levesque led the cost by blasting 19 kills, countering Lions star hitter Dom Flores (22 kills) blow for blow to assist the Rangers transfer on.
Six of these kills got here in a tone-setting opening body, whereas Liam Doherty (37 assists), Drew Eason (12 kills), Joshua Kiwanuka (4 kills, three blocks) and Jack Flynn (three kills, two blocks) every stepped up huge in items to interrupt up the strings of momentum Chelmsford responded with at each flip.
Defense from Matthew Kovacev and Shawn LaDuke proved important, and Methuen now has a date with unbeaten No. 1 Needham within the subsequent spherical of the state match.
“They knew what we were going to do, we knew what they were going to do, we just had to execute better,” stated Rangers head coach Matt Twomey. “Our defense was enormous tonight, made play after play, and our outsides were pretty much unstoppable. … They had it in their head that they wanted to win, they wanted to send Chelmsford home and that’s exactly what they did. I was very impressed with what they did tonight.”
Not a single a part of their three set victories got here straightforward, as Chelmsford gave as a lot of the problem you’d count on from a staff that’s gained the matchup between the 2 not less than 4 straight instances. Every body noticed the Lions lead sooner or later, and the second set even seemed prefer it was theirs for the taking.
After Levesque caught hearth alongside Eason to shut out a 1-0 match lead, Chelmsford had all of the momentum within the second. Self-inflicted errors from the Lions allowed Methuen to remain in it, however Victor Lam (44 assists) related with three completely different hitters to assist construct a lead as giant as 20-16 earlier than Twomey known as timeout.
From there, Kiwanuka picked up two huge blocks, lefty Lucas Giard touched down a kill, and Levesque completed off a 9-2 run with an ace to steal the set. Methuen was again on monitor up 2-0.
“It showed a lot of character, especially because these guys haven’t played a match in two weeks,” Twomey stated. “I just told them that when we play with emotion, when we win the emotional battle first, we’re such a better team. We’ve got to come out there and play with emotion – we played really flat. … Once we had the energy back, it was really tough for (Chelmsford) to get the momentum back.”
Chelmsford’s battle was removed from finished, utilizing extra of its well-balanced assault outdoors of Flores to grind out a 25-21 third set that noticed each groups enjoying effectively. Flores then belted seven kills over the primary 21 factors of the fourth set to construct a slim, 11-10 lead. Doherty related with Levesque, Eason and Kiwanuka as groups traded factors, although, and one other 6-2 run to shut out the body sealed the match.
Source: www.bostonherald.com