NEWTON — “We took our foot off the gas,” said St. John’s Prep volleyball coach Kara Brown following her team’s 3-2 loss to Newton South on Wednesday night.
After going up 2-0, the Eagles (13-6) lost the next three sets, snapping the seven-game winning streak Prep has been building since May 1.
“We started the game, sets one and two, sticking to our game plan, doing what we were supposed to be doing,” Brown said. “After that, I told them we lost focus.”
The Eagles started the game out hot, out-scoring the Lions (9-8) 50-34 after the first two sets.
Yet, the third set is when Brown started to notice her squad losing focus.
“We just didn’t play aggressively at the net,” Brown said. “We started tipping a lot, took our foot off the gas and I think we were hoping for them to make mistakes instead of us earning our own points.”
Heading into the match, Brown and her squad were looking to play aggressively. When that aggression ran out and Prep began to fall into a more passive style, the Lions seized control.
“We stopped doing what our plan was,” Brown said. “You saw Newton South come out, we opened the door for them, and they just plowed through us.”
While the Eagles struggled in the later stages of the game, they still had solid individual performances throughout the match.
Senior Jayden Pelletier was all over the court, notching 18 kills, 10 digs, three blocks and three aces. Grant Magnuson added 10 digs while Michael Wagner led the Eagles with 24 kills and seven digs.
Graham Pasersky (24) and Ethan Sheehan (15) also combined for 39 assists, but the Eagles’ woes in the later stages of the game proved to be insurmountable.
“Jayden is a top tier kid on and off the court, same with Grant,” Brown said. “These kids are leaders in our program, but a team is 12 players. Your team is only as good as what the 12th player on the bench is doing so everybody’s got to pull their weight.”
Throughout the season, Brown has noticed each of her players pulling their weight. It’s what has led to their sustained success and recent seven-game winning streak.
“We came into practices with a purpose,” Brown said. “I think we realized that we have some pieces so we were coming into practices with a purpose and going into those games with the same purpose.”
The Eagles will look to get back on track in their next and final matchup of the season when they host Methuen on Friday at 5:30 p.m. before competing in postseason action later this month.
While Brown thinks her team lost a bit of their purpose during the match against Newton South, Brown was still able to identify a silver lining.
“It’s a nice reality check,” Brown said. “We can’t take games off. When we work for something and do something a certain way, we have to continue doing that in games.”
