By Max Clifford
Hometown Weekly Reporter
It was not without a touch of drama, but the Needham High School Varsity Girls’ Volleyball team took care of business in Framingham on Thursday. The Rockets battled the Flyers to a sweep in straight sets, their ninth sweep and 12th victory of the season.
Needham dominated the opening set, in large part thanks to the efforts of senior Samantha Tam. The outside hitter towered over the players on the other side of the net, allowing her to rack up an impressive eight kills. She also added an ace during her time at the service line. Behind the efforts of Tam, the Rockets took the opening set easily, 25-8.
The second set of the night saw the hosts come to life. A host of Needham errors and some timely kills had Framingham out to an early 10-4 advantage. Noticing a lull in her team’s pace, Needham’s veteran head coach Courtney Todesco called a timeout to talk to her squad.
“We just need to dial up our intensity right now,” Todesco said of her message to the team during the timeout. “We’re being a little lax, perhaps because the first set felt a little more manageable for us… We got to still keep that intensity there.”
The well-timed interruption turned out to be exactly what the doctor ordered for Needham. The Rockets came out of the break on a 10-2 run, forcing Framingham to call a timeout of their own. The timeout appeared to give the Flyers a boost as they were able to cut the Needham lead to 17-16. However, that was all they would be able to muster as Lizzy Tam took the service line for the Rockets and did not leave until the set was over. The younger Tam closed out the set with five service aces on her final six serves.
A tightly contested start in the third set became not-so-tight when a 10-1 run from the Rockets stretched a 7-5 lead into an 18-6 advantage. The Flyers battled back to cut their deficit to 20-13, but with Izzy Streeper at the service line, Needham put together a 4-0 run before clinching the set and the match 25-14.
