NEWTON — Hungry and humble.
After surrendering a late lead in a loss to Westford Academy earlier within the week, No. 4 Newton South went into its matchup with fellow Div. 1 energy No. 3 Natick on Saturday with a direct concentrate on these two phrases. And regardless of falling away from them in bits and items because the Redhawks confirmed off simply how harmful they’re, the Lions discovered a strategy to overcome a rocky first set to rally over the fourth and fifth units for a 3-2 win (16-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11).
Star hitters Jaidin Russell (24 kills) and John Kim (21 kills) proved pivotal within the comeback, serving as dependable sources for Zach Meurer (50 assists) to supply factors in a dogfight. That included a key fourth set that Newton South practically blew an enormous lead on when attempting to shut it out, however Kim, Russell and Jeff Grabowski (11 kills, two blocks) had the ending touches to assist get the job performed.
“I’m not sure we always had (hunger and humbleness) in the Westford game, it’s what we tried to focus on,” mentioned head coach Lucas Coffeen. “Still have work to do, but we did a lot better at that. … The boys did a good job of that, eventually figured it out. Natick is an incredible team, so fun to play against. Just back and forth, exciting stuff.”
Natick did a superb job to get Newton South out of its sport plan all through the matchup, resulting in a 2-1 lead with spectacular first and third units. Kendall Jackson (23 kills, two blocks), Matthew Salerno (10 kills), Luke Rossi (5 blocks) and the setting combo of Harrison Landry (24 assists) and Branch Barnes (18 assists, 5 kills) made issues very tough for Newton South.
That practically prolonged to the fourth set when Newton South led 19-10, just for the Red Hawks to tug inside a 21-19 deficit because the Lions seemed utterly out of sync. Coffeen known as a timeout, left the huddle instantly, and the gamers talked it out.
The Lions dedicated only one error the remainder of the day, securing the fourth set to push it to a fifth.
“It was a point in the match where we seemed to lose those two words,” Coffeen mentioned. “The actual thing I said to the team (in that timeout) was, ‘Find out who still wants to play, and talk.’ And they did, they found out they all still wanted to play.”
That power was obvious within the closing body between each teams, with neither workforce gaining a bonus of a couple of level up till it was tied at 9-9. Newton South turned to Kim, Russell and Grabowski from there, and completed off the comeback.
Source: www.bostonherald.com