WINCHESTER – Still trying to put the pieces together to play as dominantly as head coach Jane Bergin believes it can, the Lexington boys volleyball team got a big push in the right direction while supporting a good cause Friday afternoon at Winchester High School.
After dropping a second set filled with miscues, the No. 11 Minutemen (5-2) used overpowering play at the net over the next two frames to muscle past No. 8 St. John’s of Shrewsbury for a 3-1 (25-23, 15-25, 25-21, 25-15) win in the ALS One April Break Invitational championship game.
Justin Cheng (12 kills, nine blocks) and Matteo Luciani (11 kills) were critical pieces alongside a list of contributors to overcome the sluggish second frame, winning an intense battle at the net to end the athletic Pioneers’ (7-2) seven-game win streak.
Considering the slower start to the season than she expected, Bergin felt those third and fourth sets to seal a win against a quality team were huge for the team’s morale. Especially on April vacation, within a feel-good tournament designed by Winchester coach John Fleming to spread awareness about ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
“They weren’t having fun,” Bergin said. “It’s April break and the big stress this week was just having fun. Anybody that knows me knows I’m pretty competitive, but we have to flip the switch because it’s a different time. … Not (seeing) them have fun was not something I want to see.
“It’s a good step. Just coming out strong and realizing you have the ability to do that (is the takeaway). We’re building self-confidence.”
Each of the first three sets could have gone in favor of St. John’s, as Matt Deeley (13 kills) and Franny McGonagle (seven kills, six aces) flexed plenty of strength to help build late leads in all three. Suraj Marla (23 assists) distributed well, while Nolan Farrell (three blocks) and Eric Barcelos (five kills, four blocks) gave the Minutemen fits in the middle. It was almost all they could handle, jumping out to a 23-21 advantage in the first and a 21-20 lead in the third after the Pioneers won the second set by 10 points.
Lexington flashed its height and power to help rally in both, though. Pioneers hitting errors and a Cheng ace sealed a huge comeback in the first set. St. John’s met the Minutemen at the net plenty throughout the third, but a pair of kills and a block from Cheng – as well as five Luciani kills in the frame – delivered the 2-1 match lead.
It was all Lexington from there, using its full cast of game-changers to deliver 11 kills, three blocks and two aces in the final frame for a 25-15 win. Tammer Haddad used seven kills and two blocks, and Nadav Vachel used three kills and two blocks to round out the hitting core. Jack Fan dished 32 assists to the whole crew, also dialing up three kills.
“Blocking has been one of our nemesis this season, we work on it every day,” Bergin said. “(Cheng) really came through for us in set three and four. We have big guys, a lot of the stuff we got to work on in practice is in-system stuff and hitting. … We do a ton of net work because we’re so big.”
Winchester won the consolation game of the invitational prior to Lexington and St. John’s taking the floor, rallying past Malden for a 3-2 win.
