BHS boys volleyball team wins state championship

With every new set on Friday night, Brookline looked more and more like the state’s consensus No. 1 boys volleyball team. The Warriors’ struggles to receive Needham’s serves ended midway through the second set. Their tendency to fall behind early and give the Rockets too much of a lead stopped being a problem in the third set.

By the fourth set, the Warriors looked like the team they’ve been all season, and the Division 1 trophy was theirs for the taking.

Senior outside hitter Kristaps Vaivars led the way with 27 kills, and Brookline secured its first title since 1992 with a 20-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-15 over the No. 3 Rockets on Friday at Xaverian Brothers High School.

“This is something I’ve worked for for my whole high school career,” Vaivars said. “For it to finally come true in my senior year, my last couple days here, it’s amazing.”

Trailing 18-15 in the second set, the Warriors (23-1) looked in danger of squandering their best chance to win it all in years. They’d yet to lead by even a single point, and looked unsure against a Needham team that had been to four straight state finals, winning three.

Junior Amir Tomer (10 kills, 2 blocks) got Brookline back in the set, sandwiching two kills around a block to tie it 18-18. Needham still served twice with a chance to win it, but served out of bounds both times. One more kill from Tomer and a combined block from setter Alec Smagula (4 kills, 2.5 blocks, 47 assists) and middle Luka Gallucci (1 kill, 4 blocks, 1 ace) gave Brookline a comeback win.

“This is so incredible,” Gallucci said. “It’s so incredible to be part of our high school’s history. I’m so excited for that year to go up on the wall. Every time we go into that gym for any reason, we’ll know that we’re the ones who did that.”

With momentum back on their side, Brookline took control. Two big kills from Conor Christopher (8 kills) helped give the Warriors a six-point lead midway through the third set, and Vaivars wrapped it up with back-to-back spikes. Equally able to score from the back and front rows, Vaivars tallied eight kills in the third set.

“I knew we had to win that third set,” Vaivars said. “I knew the ball was coming to me. I knew what I had to do.”

Vaivars might’ve led the way, but Brookline won on its versatility. Six different Warriors recorded at least one kill in the match, and the team used that range to build an insurmountable lead in the clinching fourth set.

Down 5-6, Vaivars and Smagula each recorded a kill and Smagula and Liam Raybould (4 kills, 4.5 blocks, 1 ace) combined on a block to finish a seven-point run. Later, Raybould, Tomer and Vaivars all scored in a five-point run that made it 20-9 and sent the packed Brookline fan section into a frenzy.

“We have the most weapons in the state,” said Smagula. “I can set the ball anywhere, front row, back row, and there’s going to be someone who can put it down.”

Vaivars brought home the final point, crushing his hit off Needham’s block and out of bounds. The win brought a stellar end to the inaugural season for head coach Lexi De la Cruz, a professional volleyball player in Puerto Rico and New England who also coaches with SMASH Volleyball, one of New England’s premier travel clubs.

“I knew that we had a target, I knew that everyone expected us to be here,” De la Cruz said. “We put in a lot of work in practice, and it showed off today. This team earned it. It wasn’t given.”

The title was not only Brookline’s first since 1992, but the culmination of almost a decade of getting close without r winning it all. The Warriors have qualified for every postseason since 2018, but Bay State Conference rivals like Newton North and Needham had previously always been there to end their season: Needham in the 2021 South sectional finals, 2022 Round of 16 and 2024 quarterfinals; and Newton North in the 2023 semifinals.

This time Brookline wouldn’t be denied, surviving first-set losses and then winning three sets in a row against both Newton North in the semis before the final win against Needham.

“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was in sixth grade watching my brother play, so it definitely feels amazing,” Smagula said. “There are so many people I could thank. So many people go into this. Not just people inside the program – people in the Brookline community, parents, players, coaches. It means a lot for the town of Brookline.”

Students, parents and even volleyball alumni packed the Xaverian Brothers gymnasium, their cheers becoming louder and louder as Brookline got stronger with each subsequent set. The student fan section, all wearing white Brookline shirts, screamed and cheered with each new point, at times completely drowning out the competing cheers from Needham’s black-attitred student section.

“Two years ago I came to the playoffs. They made it to the top four, and I was really proud of them,” said Robert Loo, a former BHS volleyball player and coach. “For this time to do this is monumental, because it’s been (more than) 30 years.”