NATICK – The historic streak continues for the two-time defending state champs.
Behind its regular dose of well-rounded contributions and its seemingly innate focus in each large 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) street win Thursday afternoon in a battle of Bay State Conference powers.
Ethan McCarron’s 14 kills flexed the strongest in a cost that noticed 4 others register a minimum of three kills, pairing with Alex Gundaker’s six blocks, Jonathan Ochalla’s 20 digs, and a setting trio’s 30 mixed assists to tempo this system’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 way one of many state’s bests stacks as much as the premier contender from the previous two seasons. Natick almost received the primary set and matched blow for blow all through a lot of the competition, however Needham handed with flying colours to stay the early favourite.
As at all times, although, the Rockets are focused on the massive image.
“It’s a good win, I think we have some things we can work on (and) I think both teams will be better the second time around,” Needham head coach Dave Powell mentioned. “I thought both teams made some strings of errors, I think we can be a little more steady. … It’s a good baseline, a good foundation. I hope we can make a lot of progress if we keep at it.”
“We’ve just got to stay the course,” McCarron added. “Of course, it feels nice to win. But at the end of the day, it’s just a regular season game. Just got to keep the train on the tracks and all that.”
Natick proved each bit as difficult as marketed in spurts all through, forcing a low margin for error in important moments. Needham delivered every time.
As Nicholas Bonavire (six kills, ace, block), Branch 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 assist Natick rally twice late within the opening set, the Rockets didn’t lose focus after permitting a 24-21 lead flip right into a 24-24 rating. Following a Natick service error, Raymond Weng (16 assists, 5 kills, 9 digs) related with Brian Cloonan (4 kills) to win the set.
Salerno caught hearth along with his serve halfway by means of the second, utilizing three aces in a 5-0 run to present Natick a 10-8 lead. A service error gave the ball again to Needham, and Alex Gundaker (three kills, six blocks) used three blocks in a 7-2 run proper after to regain management. Owen Ching (12 assists) and Devin Dellamarggio (two assists, ace) paired with Weng to supply some high quality units to stop any true rally within the 25-18 win. And then there was McCarron and Luke Lorence (seven kills), who mixed for 11 kills within the remaining stanza to assist end off the match regardless of Natick main 14-11 and pulling even at 20-20 late within the third.
“Just making sure we don’t get complacent, make sure we close out every set (was the mentality),” McCarron mentioned. “We just don’t want to feel too comfortable ever, even if we have a big lead. Just got to stay neutral and stay the course. That was our mindset often.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com