LEXINGTON – Two days after pulling off its gutsiest win of the year with a reverse sweep over No. 9 Cambridge, the Lexington boys volleyball team again proved its mettle Wednesday night to keep the state’s longest active win streak alive.
Behind 24 kills from Ale Luciani in a playoff atmosphere he and coach Marc Turiano felt was the most intense game of the season, the No. 8 Minutemen (11-1) rallied from a 2-1 match deficit to outlast No. 16 Milford, 3-2 (21-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13), for their 11th straight win.
The rowdiness of the Scarlet Hawks’ (8-4) junior varsity team and bench brought plenty of juice to a match that star Gus Da Silva (21 kills) and his teammates fed off, but the Minutemen’s well-rounded group generated enough to hold them off for a second straight emotional win.
“Coming into this week, I saw it as a measuring stick,” Turiano said. “There’s still some things we’ve got to clean up, but I think it shows that we’ve grown, winning two five-setters in a row, after opening the year (by) dropping (a five-setter). … The guys are improving, they’re getting better. It’s all in that upward trajectory.”
“We just have great moments,” Luciani added. “We go on runs and our team is together. … I’m really proud of how we play.”
Composure was tested throughout for both, which Lexington didn’t show as much of in the first and third sets – the latter of which Milford’s Diego Inacio-Santos (12 kills) used three kills to spark a 7-2 run and close out a 25-23 win for a 2-1 match lead.
After Luciani’s five kills and limited errors helped Lexington separate from a 14-13 lead in the fourth set to take it 25-21, though, the Minutemen delivered in the fifth.
As Da Silva erupted for six kills, Lexington’s depth answered just about every Milford point for a whopping 11 straight side outs traded in the winner-take-all frame. Luciani had four kills, Evan Carroll had one of his seven blocks, Nic Sanchez de Rojas notched two of his 10 kills, and Nadav Vachtel added a block.
Setter Mahin Rajesh (31 assists) dished seven assists, none bigger than the diving bump to Luciani for the winner that finally silenced Milford.
“I haven’t felt that level of intensity in this gym this year,” Turiano said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a game that was that intense. … (Our composure) was really put to the test tonight.”
“We can hear each other more than we can hear everyone in the stands,” Luciani added. “Coach (Turiano) always emphasizes the little runs of three. You side out and you get two serves. I think today that worked wonders.”
Lexington’s depth was a major driver, of course, which Luciani credited for the win over his own efforts.
Turiano agreed, but nonetheless admired the senior captain’s performance to rise above for a monster performance.
“This was a slugfest of a game between our No. 1 outside and their No. 1 outside,” Turiano said. “Especially in the fourth and fifth set, everybody knew where the ball was going on both sides. … (Luciani) showed why he’s a senior captain.”