BROOKLINE – Notch another significant Bay State Conference win onto Natick’s belt.
Despite a scrappy display from No. 13 Brookline (5-3) to challenge early in each set Thursday afternoon, the No. 2 RedHawks (5-1) used heightened discipline to close out every frame en route to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-22) sweep over a notable fellow conference power. Their 6-2 system worked wonders once again, with setters Harrison Landry (21 assists) and Branch Barnes (15 assists, 10 kills) finding the right hitting options to never trail in a set.
Much of that came when it mattered most, as an 8-2 run over the final 10 points of the first sealed the 1-0 match lead, an 11-2 run late in the second provided critical separation to go up 2-0, and a 5-1 run at the end of the third sealed the victory.
Natick now has wins over the Warriors and No. 3 Newton North, hoping to keep pace with No. 1 Needham despite falling to the two-time defending state champions in a competitive affair before April vacation.
“We snapped right into in warmups, we got here ready to go. Everyone did a good job,” Barnes said. “I think we’re taking the steps to taking everything more seriously, especially for the kids that don’t play volleyball in club and this is their only season. Getting them more into the mindset of, ‘Hey, we’re here, we want to win this. This is what we want to do. We’re a state championship (caliber) team, that’s where we want to go.’ Everyone’s come around, so it’s good.”
Brookline proved a worthy challenger in back-and-forth action early on.
Cam Jilek smashed eight kills for the Warriors, pairing with Alec Smagula’s 17 assists and contributions from down the lineup to hang with Natick through the middle of the first two sets. The third, when trailing 2-0 in the match, even saw Brookline trade blows all the way to a 21-21 score.
The RedHawks outplayed Brookline in each final stretch to pull away, though. Matt Salerno and Nick Bonavire caught fire in bits to bury nine kills apiece, while sophomore middle John Carroll stood out as a change-of-pace option with four kills and three blocks. Other points were earned by forcing the Warriors into errors.
Much of Natick’s emphasis was to consistently force the ball side to side, keeping Brookline off balance. By the time Barnes or Landry set for the middles, Carroll, Thomas Sweeney and Simon Pedrelli drew a single blocker on their respective hits.
“Today our team played with discipline running the offense and playing defense, serving – in general,” said Natick head coach Peter Suxho. “Our strategy was to play side by side. Left or right. In this case, the attacker comes with one blocker. This was our goal, to go (one on one). If we do that, we’re always attacking well.”
It also helps when any player can get going before switching options, which Natick featured throughout nine different runs of at least three straight points. Salerno, Barnes and Bonavire all had three-plus kills in the first. Barnes, Bonavire and Carroll did the same in the second, before Salerno and Barnes repeated the feat in an uber-competitive third.
“Every single rotation, we have good hitters all around,” Barnes said. “(Carroll), you set the ball (to him), he’s crushing it to the ground. … (Sarlerno’s) a really good hitter outside. (Bonavire’s) a really good hitter outside. We have more options, we can sub people in and sub people out. We have a very versatile team.”
