The Ohio State and Harvard mens volleyball rosters confirm what two-time defending Div. 1 champion Needham completed in every of the final two unbeaten seasons.
Ben Putnam is now surrounded by teammates from California or the Midwest on the nationwide championship-contending Buckeyes. Same for Owen Fanning by means of two years with the Crimson.
Between them, two-time All-Scholastic Nolan Leary, two-time All-Scholastic Raymond Weng, and All-Scholastic contributions from Kevin Coppinger, Eli Blumenstein and Ethan McCarron, the Rockets had been overwhelmingly loaded with expertise. And in spite of everything however seniors Weng and McCarron graduated in both 2021 or 2022, the widespread perception within the boys volleyball group was that this 12 months – whereas it will nonetheless be troublesome to beat the Rockets – can be completely different.
But at 15-0 up to now with the state’s second-highest power of schedule, Needham is proving that breaking down its success doesn’t come right down to a simply handful of star gamers.
The present 61-game win streak is clearly historic, as was its 120-set win streak final season. This profitable is nothing new, although, with solely 14 losses to 238 wins for the reason that begin of 2013.
“Guys were hungry, guys stayed hungry, and we’re trying to keep our kids hungry in the midst of success,” stated Rockets head coach Dave Powell. “We didn’t always quite hit what we wanted to in terms of the end result, but we had some crazy success for a long period of time before the pandemic. It’s not like it’s a recent thing, there just hasn’t happened to be a match loss (recently).”
In 2014, Needham was nonetheless searching for its first state championship. The 22-0 Rockets met 22-0 Newton South within the Div. 1 South remaining, and even led 2-0 within the match. But as a part of a 47-game win streak that carried over into an eventual rematch with Needham in the identical sport the next season, the Lions got here again to win on a 15-12 fifth set and went on to take the state title.
There’s by no means only one or two contributing components to a program that’s gained three state titles and 6 Div. 1 South sectional finals over the past decade. But there’s an perspective that’s helped form the juggernaut we all know right now.
Something wanted to vary, and Needham went on to get revenge in an unbeaten season the following 12 months to finish Newton South’s streak and win its first state title.
“The 2014 loss fueled us. It fueled me as a coach to kind of look at the program introspectively and say, ‘Hey, what are we doing here,’” Powell stated. “(2015) was just a big year for us because up until that year, we just kind of tried to preach being a good volleyball player. We didn’t really preach toughness and being a good person, and being resilient. 2015, kind of all the pieces came together. Since then, we haven’t always had the most talented team, but we try to squeeze everything out of what we’ve had.”
As nice because the 2015 unbeaten squad was, or the final two groups which have anchored this present streak had been, two groups that particularly stand out on this stretch for Powell got here in 2017 and 2018. Not due to a championship – neither sealed the deal — however by means of getting essentially the most out of what you have got within the blue collar, come to the fitness center able to work type of mentality Needham strives for.
The 61-game win streak is nice. But that’s not essentially what the Rockets use to explain success.
“You guys like talking about the streak, but for us, we’re just trying to get a little better every day, corner our own performance and compete in those matches,” Powell stated. “That’s what we’re about. It’s hard to uphold those standards to our guys daily, but that’s the standard in the gym. If you’re in the gym, you’re competing. … Kids still have the ability to compete if they’re held to certain standards. It’s not a perfect 10 every day in our gym and there are definitely moments where we don’t hit our daily standards, but we try our best.”
Losing a 2020 season after having a complete 12 months to marinate on an upset loss in 2019 fueled Fanning, Leary, Putnam and Powell to satisfy 5 days every week for seaside volleyball. Intensity and creativity to get the work in dialed up a notch, and the Rockets haven’t misplaced since.
Success brings extra success in a city like Needham, which now has gamers committing to the game as younger because the sixth grade. Players are ready within the wing to step into huge roles, evident by the success exterior hitter Luke Lorence, center Alex Gundaker, libero Owen Ching and setter Devin Dellamarggio have discovered on this 12 months’s workforce after spending time below final 12 months’s stars. Two of the state’s bests in Weng and McCarron nonetheless contribute in an enormous approach to this system that leads the dialog for a possible third straight state title.
Side-outs
— Bus points proceed to plague highschool sports activities within the state, with Newton North arriving an hour late to its Thursday matchup at Natick, O’Bryant workers members having to drive gamers to Milford on Friday, and a bus breakdown suspending Wayland-Boston Latin.
— St. John’s Prep (9-5) repeats a robust marketing campaign from final 12 months, however spectacular turnarounds from St. John’s of Shrewsbury (13-2) and BC High (10-4) give the Catholic Conference three groups within the high 10 of the newest MIAA Div. 1 energy rankings after a largely quiet 2022.
— The 1,000-assists membership added two new members this week in Chelmsford’s Victor Lam and New Bedford’s Carter Barbosa.
— Third time is the attraction for the younger Revere program (13-3), edging Malden 3-2 in consecutive video games to enhance to 12-0 within the Greater Boston League for the league title.
Source: www.bostonherald.com