By Jake Freudberg
Sports Reporter
The #2 seeded Newton South boys’ volleyball team lost to #1 seeded Needham 3-1 in the MIAA South Sectional Final, hosted at Xaverian Brothers High School.
After sweeping both Brockton High School and Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School in the first two rounds of the playoffs, South fell behind early in the first set.
Needham jumped out to an 18-13 lead in the first set, quickly forcing a timeout from the Lions’ bench. Despite the effort to break the Rockets’ momentum, South was unable to take control — even after another timeout while down 23-15 — and Needham went on to win the set 25-16.
“I think we just made too many mistakes [in the first set],” senior co-captain Krish Maypole said. “There’s no other possible explanation.”
Though Needham ended up winning the second set 25-23, South got their momentum going with the back-and-forth battle, rolling to a 25-14 win in the third set.
Senior Noah Kopf explained how the team got back in the game.
“The first set was tough because we couldn’t play our full starting lineup. When we did have our full team, the sets were much more competitive,” Kopf said. “After losing two sets, some teams would just give up, but we rallied and dominated the third set.”
Despite his team being down 2-1 going into the fourth set, Maypole explained that the team did not feel much pressure.
“We felt pretty good at the beginning [of the fourth set] like the pressure was off,” Maypole said.
While Needham took an early 6-2 lead in the final set, South rallied back to cut the lead to 13-12, forcing the Rockets to take a timeout. Another late-set rally was too little, too late for the Lions, as Needham won the set 25-21, and the match 3-1.
Overall, the team is still proud of their season this year, which included another DCL championship victory for the perennially successful program.
“The season as a whole was a great experience and I am so proud of this team,” Kopf said. “We accomplished so much together, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of teammates.”
