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After winning five straight matches, the Winchester High School boys volleyball team (11-5) fell to Lexington (3-0, May 12) and non-league host Milford (3-2, May 14). The Red & Black is seeded 17th in Division 1, according to the May 13 power rankings.
Without making excuses, the long trek to Milford to take on the Scarlet Hawks (21st seed in Division 1, 10-7) maybe had some effect on the Winchester boys.
“After a long delay due to traffic, I think we played very well early on against a tough Milford team that had plenty of size and athleticism,” said Coach John Fleming. “We had our chances to win the second set, which would have been huge, to go up 2-0. But after losing that set, we played tremendous volleyball to win big in the third.
“We had our opportunities to separate ourselves from them in the fourth set, but we let them hang around and once again lost by two points,” added Fleming. “In the fifth set, Milford jumped out to an early lead, and we never recovered. I think we got better as a team, but still needed to cleanup some stuff to make more winning plays down the stretch.”
Tuto Sampaio was the team’s leader against Milford with 24 kills and five blocks. Julien He was next in line in kills with 18. Bryan Jiang chipped in with six kills and five blocks. Ethan Lubomirski accounted for 15 digs.
The aforementioned Lexington match featured the eighth annual Spike Out ALS fundraiser.
“We started the event in 2017 to support senior Philip Marks and his family after his dad, Rick, was just diagnosed with ALS,” said Fleming. “My own father, Bill, was diagnosed with ALS later that year, and we lost both in 2018. We have continued the (annual fundraising) match in their memory, as well as to honor those currently living with ALS.
“Both Eileen Marks and my mom, Nancy, attend the match every year. It has become a really special event for the program, because we wanted to do our part in raising some funds (for research) and awareness of the disease,” he continued. “While the match didn’t go the way we wanted, the event was (nonetheless) very successful. We raised over $4,000 for ALS One, while also continuing to share the story of people who we have lost to ALS. We also want others to know more about the disease in order to eventually find a cure for it.”
Fleming also mentioned a Lexington parent, who works at Biogen, told him afterwards that she is a part of a team working on ALS research, and they have made some headway in finding a cure for a particular type of ALS.
Getting back to the match against the Minutemen, Sampaio and He both collected 11 kills apiece, and David You chipped in with 12 assists. Bryan Jiang had five blocks.
“We played well in stretches during the first set against Lexington, but not enough to truly challenge them late in the set,” Fleming said. “Lexington was great in the second set going into the third. We called a second timeout in the third set to challenge the players to step it up and play with some grit. We also needed to show some resiliency, and we did just that. After trailing 13-4, we fought all the way back to tie it at 23. It would have been nice to steal that set to see what would have happened in the fourth, but I was still glad that we responded by playing tough tennis, which will help us in the upcoming state tournament.”
Prior to those two losses, the Winchester boys defeated host Burlington on May 8, 3-0.
“Tuto (Sampaio) was outstanding playing against his former team. He played for them during his freshman and sophomore years,” said Fleming. “It was fun to see him play so well in that match, coming up with 16 kills. Ethan (Lubomirski) continued to grow as a complete player and leader for our group. He was terrific receiving serves in this match. Julien (He) had another really strong all-around match with three aces, 10 kills and six digs.”
Haoran Jiang also helped out the winning cause against the Red Devils with 17 assists.
The Red & Black defeated Woburn two days earlier by the same 3-0 score.
“I thought we played well throughout this match,” said Fleming. “It was nice to see different players make plays, especially our setters, who did a better job of incorporating our middle hitters into the offense, which kept Woburn on (its) toes defensively. Haoran (Jiang) had a few smart dumps (to go along with three aces), which got us points and some momentum.”
He had 14 kills against the Tanners. Sampaio accounted for 10 kills and 16 digs. Elliott Swain and Bryan Jiang each had four kills. You accounted for 14 assists.
The Red & Black began the month with a 3-0 win against host Arlington on May 1.
“This was a really good win for us,” said Fleming. “The first set was really competitive, and overall, we really played at a high level. Julien He was dominant with 13 kills. It was probably his best match of the season so far. Ethan Lubomirski (6 aces) was terrific with his serves, before controlling the back row receiving serves, while also digging up some tough swings.”
You and Haoran Jiang also factored into the win over the Spy Ponders with a combine total of 31 assists.
The Winchester boys are set to go up against Wakefield Friday (May 16, 5:15 p.m.) in their final home match of the regular season. They will complete the season on the road next week at Belmont (May 19, 5:30 p.m.), Acton-Boxborough (May 20, 5:30 p.m.) and Cambridge (May 22, 5:30 p.m.). It’s then onto the postseason, where they will test their skills against the rest of the state in Division 1.
