By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
In an inaugural season, not all victories can be seen on the scoreboard. Westwood’s boys volleyball team lost to Medfield in three straight sets on Monday night but battled with high energy and effort from beginning to end.
The team is led by head coach Nathan Costello who has several years of coaching experience through different programs. The team has been competing at the club level, mainly scrimmaging varsity teams throughout the season in previous years.
“It's a game of runs, so when we get going and the energy's up – and in our first year, we're lucky to have 13 kids on JV – so they get going in the crowd and like it's just contagious,” said Costello. “These guys do a good job of picking each other up. They're great teammates, and when we get rolling, the energy's great.”
The team was able to capitalize off of some Medfield blunders to keep up and start off trailing 6-4 in the first set. However, inconsistent serving and some failed returns led to Medfield building a 15-9 lead before the match’s first timeout. The Wolverines earned points twice more before losing the set 25-11.
“I think Medfield got into a little bit of a groove,” said Costello on Medfield pulling away. “I mean, they are the class of the league… Once their' setters got going and their hitters got going, we were a bit slow to react to their hitters and we just found ourselves on our heels and a step behind.”
Similarly to the first set, the second worked its way to a 6-4 Medfield lead. This time, Westwood was able to keep things close towards the end. Senior Landon Bayer recorded an ace to cut Medfield’s lead to 19-16 late in the set.
In front of the net, the Wolverines were putting forth their best effort to block spike attempts. Unfortunately, the ball was not bouncing back over to the other side of the court. They lost the second set 25-19.
The third set was more reminiscent of the first on the scoreboard, but Westwood’s energy and effort never faltered for a moment. After the Wolverines started with an ace, Medfield rifled off six consecutive points and ran off to a 16-7 lead.
Despite the big deficit, Westwood made it difficult for Medfield to finish them off. The boys in green tallied four consecutive points before their opponent was able to record the 25th point.
“They never give up,” said Costello. “We always talk about playing in increments of five, so no matter what the score is, push for 10, push for 15. And that was what you saw at the end… They're always in the next point mindset, so kudos to them.”
Despite the loss, the Wolverines are embodying Westwood, playing from start to finish with pride.
