NATICK – The historic streak continues for the two-time defending state champs.
Behind its normal dose of well-rounded contributions and its seemingly innate focus in every big moment, No. 1 Needham (5-0) withstood a bevy of surges from No. 3 Natick (3-1) to take a 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-21) road win Thursday afternoon in a battle of Bay State Conference powers.
Ethan McCarron’s 14 kills flexed the strongest in a charge that saw four others register at least three kills, pairing with Alex Gundaker’s six blocks, Jonathan Ochalla’s 20 digs, and a setting trio’s 30 combined assists to pace the program’s 51st straight victory.
After the RedHawks topped fellow title contender No. 2 Newton North on Tuesday, eyes turned to this matchup as an early measuring stick for how one of the state’s bests stacks up to the premier contender from the past two seasons. Natick nearly won the first set and matched blow for blow throughout much of the contest, but Needham passed with flying colors to remain the early favorite.
As always, though, the Rockets are concentrated on the big picture.
“It’s a good win, I think we have some things we can work on (and) I think both teams will be better the second time around,” Needham head coach Dave Powell said. “I thought both teams made some strings of errors, I think we can be a little more steady. … It’s a good baseline, a good foundation. I hope we can make a lot of progress if we keep at it.”
“We’ve just got to stay the course,” McCarron added. “Of course, it feels nice to win. But at the end of the day, it’s just a regular season game. Just got to keep the train on the tracks and all that.”
Natick proved every bit as challenging as advertised in spurts throughout, forcing a low margin for error in critical moments. Needham delivered each time.
As Nicholas Bonavire (six kills, ace, block), Branch Barnes (nine assists, four kills, block), Harrison Landry (10 assists, two kills), Matthew Salerno (seven kills, five aces) and libero Shawn Ferguson stood out to help Natick rally twice late in the opening set, the Rockets didn’t lose focus after allowing a 24-21 lead turn into a 24-24 score. Following a Natick service error, Raymond Weng (16 assists, five kills, nine digs) connected with Brian Cloonan (four kills) to win the set.
Salerno caught fire with his serve midway through the second, using three aces in a 5-0 run to give Natick a 10-8 lead. A service error gave the ball back to Needham, and Alex Gundaker (three kills, six blocks) used three blocks in a 7-2 run right after to regain control. Owen Ching (12 assists) and Devin Dellamarggio (two assists, ace) paired with Weng to produce some quality sets to prevent any true rally in the 25-18 win. And then there was McCarron and Luke Lorence (seven kills), who combined for 11 kills in the final stanza to help finish off the match despite Natick leading 14-11 and pulling even at 20-20 late in the third.
“Just making sure we don’t get complacent, make sure we close out every set (was the mentality),” McCarron said. “We just don’t want to feel too comfortable ever, even if we have a big lead. Just got to stay neutral and stay the course. That was our mindset often.”