AGAWAM – The Westfield High School boys volleyball team hit a major roadblock just off Route 57 in Agawam on Tuesday evening.
For the second time this season, Westfield fell to Agawam in a boys volleyball match. The Brownies won in three straight sets, 25-19, 25-19, 25-16, to sweep the season series, 2-0.
“They’re extremely tough to beat because they control the ball well and we just did not play clean enough tonight to take them down,” Westfield boys volleyball coach Tyler Wingate said. “You have to play really, really well and really, really efficient and we didn’t nearly cause them enough problems. We had enough problems on our own side.”
It was an emotional night for Agawam (16-1) with the Brownies playing the game in honor of Justin Lingenberg, a former volleyball player who lost his battle with cancer shortly after graduation in 2019.
“We haven’t been able to beat Westfield twice in I don’t know how long,” said Agawam coach Kevin Pender, whose team beat the Bombers three-sets-to-one in their first meeting of the season April 2. “I’m really proud of our guys for stepping up and really taking advantage of the opportunity. We’re inspired by Justin Lingenberg. He used to go get chemo and come back and play in practice. Talk about grit, talk about rising to the occasion, battling through adversity. Him being here tonight I think helped inspire us. Every time we look up at that banner, I think our guys found a new level of grit.”
Agawam was playing short-handed as starting senior libero Eric Nazarets was sidelined due to undisclosed reasons. Brownies sophomore Jacob Nesen (five digs, one ace) filled that void.
“For our second libero to come in and play that way that he did, I thought really shows that level of … trust,” coach Pender said. “We really rose to that occasion tonight against the toughest team that we’ve seen since the last time we played them.”
Playing an inspired brand of volleyball, Agawam built a commanding lead right from the outset, going up 10-3 in the opening set behind a solid effort from junior outside hitter Tim Karcha, who delivered three of his seven kills and a block during that run.
Westfield (11-3) trimmed its deficit to four points on four different occasions before finally cutting into Agawam’s lead even further.
Aces from Westfield junior middle hitter Bogdan Kuzin (five kills, two aces, two digs, 1 ½ blocks) and senior outside hitter Zachary Kukharchuk (11 kills, one ace, nine digs) made it 11-7 and 12-8, respectively. Then, a kill from junior middle hitter Jacob Satkowski (five kills, one dig, two blocks) made it 13-9. The Bombers pulled to within 15-11 with a Giovanni Gonzalez kill. Gonzalez finished the evening with seven kills, nine assists, nine digs, and 1 ½ blocks.
A kill from Kukharchuk made it a three-point game. Agawam built its lead back up to five before a Kuzin kill and a spectacular play from Westfield senior libero Nolan Rodgers (kill, assist, ace, eight digs) had the Bombers knocking on the door.
Rodgers went all the way beyond the end line to the wall and, with his back to the net and all of his teammates, bumped the ball back to Agawam. Befuddled, the Brownies fumbled the ball away. Kuzin made a block on the following possession to make it 17-15. That is as close as Westfield would get as the Brownies salted away the opening set victory.
The second set proved to be even more nerve-wracking with eight ties and six lead changes.
Kukharchuk kept Westfield either in the lead or within striking distance, landing four kills for four of the Bombers’ first 13 points of the middle frame. His fourth kill of the set cut his team’s deficit to one, 14-13.
Westfield finally knotted the set at 18-all, prompting Agawam to call a timeout. It was all Brownies after that as the home team scored seven of the set’s final eight points to secure another 25-19 win.
Agawam opened the third set with a 9-1 run. Westfield closed the gap to 14-11, but the Brownies responded with a 6-0 run that put them up by nine, 20-11. Senior outside hitter Joe Culhane (12 kills, six digs) delivered an ace and a kill for his team’s 19th and 20th points. Another kill from Culhane had his team poised for game, set, and match. On the next possession, junior middle hitter Chase Gerani (seven kills, two digs, two blocks) landed the final kill to net the three-set sweep.
Agawam senior Dennis Nesen finished the game with seven kills and 12 digs. Brownies senior David Dzhenzherukha had 31 assists.
“I think tonight wasn’t a good showing for us,” coach Wingate said. “I really think we’ve really been doing and showing some quality over the last month, just based on our results. We didn’t have the performance we needed tonight. It happens. It’s tough to swallow. [Agawam] is a good team. Credit to them. That’s why they’re number one in the rankings, deservedly so.”
Max Yurtuc collected 24 assists for Westfield to go along with three digs and half a block. Andrew Yerak (five kills, three digs, ½ block), Arlen Messier (ace, five digs), and Zack Maslar (two digs, block) also contributed for the Bombers.
“I’m still positive that we still have, hopefully, a month or so left of this season to try to make a deep run in the [state] tournament,” Wingate said. “If we get a shot to play [Agawam again], we know we’re going to be doing pretty well because they’re going to be right there probably at the end wherever we might see them.”
Agawam’s head coach said he expects a much tougher test should the two teams meet again in the postseason.
“They made a few mistakes that are un-Westfield like that I think benefited us [tonight],” Pender said. “We have to be bringing our A-plus game if we meet them that third time.”
Both teams return to action Thursday. Westfield returns home to face Minnechaug (3-11), beginning at 6:15 p.m. Agawam travels to West Springfield (13-2) to take on the Terriers at 6.
