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Entering Wednesday’s (Sept. 30) non-league road showdown against Franklin, the Winchester High girls volleyball team were a perfect 9-0. However, the Panthers spoiled its plan of an undefeated season.
Both Division 1 teams now have identical 9-1 records, something any coach would sign up for at the beginning of the season.
The Red & Black’s latest triumphs were 3-1 victories over host Brookline (Sept. 23) and visiting Needham (Sept. 25), and a 3-0 shutout at Watertown on Sept. 28.
Coach John Fleming was able to get all of his 16 healthy players into the match against Watertown to give some of them more varsity experience, while also extending the winning streak to nine at the same time.
“Watertown is an improved program, but our serving was too much for them,” said Fleming. “We had 24 aces as a team, and only three service errors. Senior captain Bella Comes led the way with six aces. Sophomore Milena Sakadzic, senior Viviana Cella and senior captain Maddie Crooks had three each.”
Fleming also mentioned sophomore Erica Jung had “a good hitting match off the bench” against the Raiders.
The Winchester girls got off to a slow start against Needham.
“We were hoping for and never really found our way early on in this match,” Fleming said. “But eventually, we settled in, especially in (receiving serves).”
Fleming went on to say, “Needham is a very good team that serves very (well), while being an incredibly scrappy (bunch), which keeps on scrambling to get anything that was shanked on the first touch.”
The Red & Black knew that Needham would be fired up to play them after they eliminated the Rockets in last year’s state tournament. There was a great crowd on hand in the new WHS gym to witness the team’s eighth win of the season on Youth Volleyball Night.
“It felt like a tournament-type matchup,” Fleming said.
Brookline had that same type of intensity and atmosphere.
“We struggled against our serve in the first set, and then we were able to open up a lead,” said Fleming. “In the second set, we struggled with their strong servers, and they were able to hold us off. But I was really pleased with the way the team responded in the third set to win it going away.”
It was a back-and-forth battle in the fourth set.
“After getting blocked by their right-side hitter, Hazel (Lovins) got a block in response. Moments later, Maddie (Crooks) also had a huge block that went off a Brookline player's back, which secured a point,” added Fleming. “They had a big crowd there in Brookline, and it certainly felt like a tournament game. Maggie (Angevine) and Izzy (Borrman) did a nice job stepping up and making some critical plays late in the match.”
The Winchester girls will now look to rebound from the Franklin loss, when they face host Reading on Friday, Oct. 2, at 5:45 p.m. They will then return home next week to take on Burlington (Oct. 6, 5:30 p.m.) and non-league Oliver Ames (Oct. 8, 5:30 p.m.).
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He has been covering Winchester sports for the News since November 2024 and is currently its Sports Editor. He can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
