WORCESTER — Despite the entire state’s season-long efforts and hopes, Massachusetts boys’ volleyball still — indisputably — runs through Needham.
The top-seeded Rockets completed their straight third undefeated season in composed fashion, beating seventh-seeded Newton North in the Division 1 title game 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 at Worcester State on Thursday.
The cherry-topping victory marked their 73rd in a row; they still have not lost since the start of the pandemic. Needham coach Dave Powell heaped praise on his players for shining in the most pressure-packed moment.
“That’s probably the best we’ve ever played as a program or as a team in a state title game,” he said. “We’ve won before, but to get this type of performance in a state title match — Newton North was a really good team and a really tough matchup for us, but I thought we played really well.”
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Needham (27-0) inched ahead in a competitive first set with leadership from senior outside hitter Ethan McCarron, who helped anchor the back line and skied in for six kills in the initial frame. The second was all about star senior Raymond Weng, who aced, assisted, and spiked his team to victory.
Weng (16 assists, 8 kills, 3 aces), a senior captain, got to hold the trophy first — he started on all three championship teams and did not lose a single high school game.
“We kind of had this chemistry that we built throughout the whole season,” he said. “It just felt super natural that we were able to just do it together.”
McCarron led the Rockets with 11 kills and successfully continued Needham’s lineage of powerful outside hitters. He felt the target on his team’s back all season and delivered a stellar senior send-off.
“It’s not easy when every team’s treating it like the biggest game of the year, so you have to be locked in every single game, 100 percent,” McCarron said. “It took us a while to grow into that mindset of coming out of the gate strong, but it worked out in the end.”
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Luke Lorence added seven kills, including the winner, for Needham. Newton North (18-7) was led by Adam Christianson (8 kills, 3 blocks) and Tyler Randall (20 assists) in the loss.
Powell said that, even as he told his team to block out the noise, the pressure of the win streak wore on him and the players throughout the season. Many people believed, even through the tournament, that this year’s Rockets would finally tumble.
The normally business-like Powell slowly began to relax as victory set in.
“I mean, it did cross my mind that this could be the state title match that potentially ends the streak,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. I can kind of be a little less robotic now. Man, it’s taxing.
“There were various waves during the season, but toward the end, it just felt like a mission,” Powell added. “And it did today a little bit. They were on it.”
