WINCHESTER – After giving up a 2-1 lead in its only loss against Needham a few weeks ago, the No. 8 Winchester boys volleyball team found itself struggling as No. 3 Milford got off to a slow start against Needham. He was fully aware of what he needed. Monday night.
They knew the Scarlet Hawks would come back strong, and the premier battle at the net between the state title contenders tested the composure of the Red and Black teams until the end. But this time he won 3-1 (25-11, 17-25, 25-21, 25-19), giving Winchester (9-1) its most distinctive shutout victory to date.
Jamie Watt led the way with 19 kills and 3 blocks, followed by explosive performances from Milford's Alex Guerra (17 kills, 2 blocks), Joey Newman (13 kills) and Gustavo da Silva (9 kills) countered the attack. Winchester's Adam Lubomirski had 35 assists and had timers to Kirk Levesque (5 kills, 6 blocks), Tuto Sampaio (7 kills) and Zach Press (4 kills).
“We knew it was a playoff, late-tournament type of game because we knew how good they were and how it was going to end up,” Winchester head coach John Fleming said. “I was there,” he said. “That level of gameplay, Milford is really tough. That's a big win for us. … I'm proud of how persistent and persistent we played.”
Hitting errors and rotation errors plagued Milford in the first set, leading to a lopsided score of 25-11. However, the Scarlet Hawks quickly found their typical mojo in the secondary.
Guerra started to explode, scoring six kills on target. Three of those were converted in a 9-2 run to end the set at 25-17 and even the match. Newman, da Silva, and Ryan Franklin found their rhythm up front, and Arthur Gomez had an outstanding defensive performance.
The Winchesters needed an answer.
“Verses Needham, I felt like we let off the gas a little bit,” Watt said. “Today's motto was 'The job's not done yet.' Kobe Bryant. …Our coach told us it was only one set[losing]and we just had to keep playing.” I think everyone has a goldfish memory of the next play, the next play, and the next play.I think that's a big help for us.
Neither team led by more than two points until Winchester took a 16-13 lead in the third set. Lubomirski connected with Watt, Levesque and Sampaio, while Milford's Owen Callahan (43 assists) simply set up Guerra, Newman or da Silva. Guerra's three-man kill brought the Scarlet Hawks within 21-19, but the Red and Black clawed back the points with blocks from Levesque and Press.
Press stopped Winchester from a 2-1 lead and had one kill for a 25-21 set victory.
“We had some timely plays when we needed them,” Fleming said. “It's been great to see other players (other than Watt) continue to emerge with the growth from the beginning of the year to now.”
“They have some good players like Alex Guerra… (and) their middle was really good, Joey Newman,” Watt added. “But we play against each other every practice, so my teammates and I have experience playing against great athletes.”
Much of the same back-and-forth continued in the fourth set, with Winchester once again unable to pull away until late. Milford had Franklin and Guerra tying the score at 15-15, but a 7-1 Red and Black run nearly decided the set and the match.
Watt had three kills and one block in her final 11 points of the match.
“Those (third and fourth sets) were all about tough matchups at the top-10 level,” Fleming added. “We have to win and get points, but we're not going to give away points. In games like this, you have to be able to be aggressive and smart. … I thought we played pretty well.”