The statewide boys volleyball tournament began on Thursday, May 29. Send missing results to sports@masslive.com.
No. 1 Brookline (3), No. 22 Greater New Bedford (0)
Coaches can send missing statistics to sports@masslive.com
No. 8 Braintree (3), No. 25 Arlington (1)
The Wamps are off to the second round of the state tournament. Taking down Arlington in four sets, Braintree set themselves up with a home matchup against No. 9 Acton-Boxborough in the round of 16.
Fueling the team Friday night was senior captain Deon Li who tallied 25 assists and 12 digs. On the finishing end for the Wamps, senior Justin Liu totaled 11 kills, and junior Jack Goddeeris had 9.
Defensively, Liu also had 11 digs in the victory, and senior Lawrence Lam totaled 13.
No. 13 New Bedford (3), No. 20 BC High (1)
Coaches can send missing statistics to sports@masslive.com
No. 8 East Longmeadow (3), No. 25 Minnechaug (2)
After claiming their opening 15 games, the No. 8 East Longmeadow boys volleyball team had recently dropped three of its last four games entering the Division II state tournament.
But none of that mattered on Friday, as the Spartans fended off a late comeback attempt from No. 25 Minnechaug at home to secure an impressive 3-2 (26-24, 25-18, 20-25, 22-25, 15-12) win in the D-II Round of 32.
Cole Berthuiame paced the offense with 41 assists, while Ben Mannheim (32) and Tavion Rehbein (13) recorded 45 of their team’s 60 kills to help East Longmeadow improve its record to 17-4. Cameron Loranger also filled the statistic sheet with six kills, three digs, and one ace.
After the Spartans took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, the Falcons (6-15) countered by claiming the third and fourth sets by eight combined points to force a decisive fifth set. But in the end, East Longmeadow prevailed with a three-point win.
The Spartans will now face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between No. 9 Boston Latin Academy and No. 24 Milton in the D-II Round of 16, with a time and location to be announced.
No. 12 Fitchburg (3), No. 21 Sci-Tech (2)
Coaches can send missing statistics to sports@masslive.com
No. 4 West Springfield (3), No. 36 Billerica (0)
The Terriers had no trouble at all in their first-round match on Friday, winning all three sets by at least 10 points.
West Side’s attack was a communal effort against Billerica, with four players collecting at least six kills, but nobody exceeding eight. The leader of that group was Michael Zubik, who also finished with one dig and a half block.
Getting it done with his serves was Daniel Gargun, finishing with seven aces. He had an all-around strong performance, also tallying six kills, three digs, and one block.
Setting it all up was Prasanta Bhandari, who finished with 28 assists in the sweep.
Next, West Springfield will host No. 20 Lynn Classical June 4 at 5 p.m.
