They started out strong, but in the end Needham High’s boys volleyball team couldn’t keep up with top-seeded Brookline June 13 in the MIAA Division 1 championship match. A 3-1 victory gave the Warriors their first state title in 32 years.
It was the Rockets’ fifth straight trip to the final. Before losing to Newton North last year, the Rockets had won three straight titles.
For a time it appeared Needham, the No. 3 seed, would soar back to the top. They burst to leads of 6-0 and 14-7 in the first set before holding off a late rally that saw Brookline close to within 19-16. An emphatic kill by senior Will McDonald (one of his nine) clinched the set for Needham, 25-20.
Tense second and third sets had raucous fans at Xaverian Brothers High School roaring for their teams. In the second set, the Rockets again jumped out to a lead that swelled to 8-2. But three consecutive blocks spurred a Brookline rally and the teams traded points to a furious finish. The turning point in the match, and Needham’s season, came when the Rockets twice had set point, only to see their serves go out of bounds. Brookline capitalized on the errors to take the set 27-25.
“Yeah, losing set two when we had two set points was hard,” Needham coach Dave Powell told the Observer.
Set three was tense as well, but this time it was Needham doing most of the chasing. Trailing 22-17, the Rockets rallied to within a point of the Warriors before falling 25-22.
In contrast, the final set was somewhat anticlimactic as Brookline relentlessly built an insurmountable lead to win 25-15.
Juniors Matt Cloonan and Will Rozman each had 12 kills for Needham. Senior Nate Ross chipped in with 24 assists, and junior Tyler Goldberg had 18 digs.
Senior Kris Vaivars had 24 kills for Brookline, many of them set up by junior Alec Smagula.
The Warriors finished with a 23-1 record, including a pair of victories over Bay State Conference rival Needham during the regular season. Needham went 21-6, including its win over No. 2 Newton North in the semifinals.
What did Powell tell his Rockets after the game? “I just told them I was proud of them,” he said. “I thought we competed hard. It wasn’t our best match, but (Brookline) made us play bad, too. And once they got going it was hard to stop.”
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