BROOKLINE — Much of the Div. 1 title conversation has surrounded fellow Bay State Conference powers Needham, Natick and Newton North all season.
But Thursday night, the Brookline boys volleyball team showed why it deserves a seat at that table.
With tournament play around the corner, the Warriors (10-5) used a gritty effort for its first win of the year against any of those three conference rivals – outlasting a resilient Newton North squad missing its star setter, 3-1 (26-24, 25-21, 17-25, 27-25).
Brookline freshman setter Alec Smagula distributed a sensational 37 assists, finding a three-headed monster of hitters in spurts to more than match the hard-hitting Tigers (12-5).
“We feel like we’re still trying to get our footing, and it’s really tough in this conference,” said Brookline head coach Dana Jones. “But we’re trying to work to compete with anyone that’s here. … We wanted to bounce back and show that we’re capable of playing this game, too. They’re a great team, they put up an incredible fight.”
“Obviously after that five-set loss to them earlier in the season, that stung,” added Smagula. “We wanted this game, we’ve been thinking about this game for a while. … People don’t think of us as a contender, but I know we’re there.”
As Newton North senior Adam Christianson (four aces) caught fire early on for seven of his 23 kills to help rally to a 24-23 lead in the first set, it looked like the matchup might develop similarly to how it did the first time for Brookline in a slim loss. But by executing enough to respond with a 3-0 run to secure a 1-0 lead (26-24), the Warriors set a much different tone.
While Christianson, Sam Huang and Simon Vardeh brought the heat, Brookline’s blocking – led by Cam Jilek (three blocks) – and defense – led by freshman libero Amir Tomer and Anuj Majumder – contained them enough to give it a chance in three back-and-forth frames. The first set and the last set (27-25) each stood out as the only two to go into extra points, and the Warriors edged out both.
That includes a wild fourth set, which saw teams trade seven straight points leading up to the two in a row Brookline recorded to win it.
“They were very determined,” Jones said. “We’ve had a few games where we kind of didn’t have consistent effort, and we found a way to tap into something and it put it toward the entire time. We’re really excited about that.”
Throughout, it helped for Smagula to turn to any one of his three top hitters to help the Warriors flourish. Jilek had four of his 10 kills in the first set, pairing with Charlie Perdue’s five kills in that stretch to power the win as Newton North also struggled with execution.
Perdue (14 kills) helped Smagula lead a 25-21 win in the second set with five more kills and two aces. Newton North erupted in the third to take back a set, but then it was Kristaps Vaivars’ turn to dial up nine of his 14 kills in the fourth set – including the match-sealing point.
“It’s really, really awesome (to have the options),” Smagula said. “I’ve built a connection with them, I trust them with everything. Trusting them is great. I know I’ve got three, four guys that no matter what I give to them, they’ll make it work and get a kill.”
“It’s really nice to have three options that are capable of carrying the team for any period of time,” Jones added. “It’s kind of a luxury we know is nice, but the guys know they still have a lot of work to do to get the team where they want to be. And they’re willing to do it.”