In late March, there were three common opinions among coaches about the Div. 1 boys volleyball field:
One – the path to the state quarterfinals would be a minefield of parity between a dozen or so teams.
Two – that minefield doesn’t include the power four from the Bay State Conference, which would likely be in a class of its own.
Three – that power four, should it actually come down to them, will trade blows in an epic race for the Div. 1 state title.
Well, Brookline (12-1), Newton North (12-3), Natick (11-2) and Needham (13-2) are a combined 48-8 entering Saturday, with less than two weeks left in the regular season.
All eight of those losses have come in their head-to-heads. They’re 40-0 against everyone else.
“That’s crazy,” said Newton North head coach Nile Fox. “It just shows you the talent of the Bay State. It’s huge. It’s cool, and it sucks at the same time, to be around competition like this. But I think it just really pushes us, and I’m glad to be a part of it. All these talented teams and (we’re) able to compete with them. It’s really cool.”
“It’s a geographic radius where at least one of the towns touches another town at some point, where you have a rare hotbed of volleyball in Massachusetts,” said Needham head coach Dave Powell. “So far, it’s proven this year that we’ll be tested in other ways, and so will Newton North and other people. Everybody has beaten everyone else, aside from Brookline.”
The conference has earned accolades in a show of success even before Powell’s Rockets won three consecutive titles and a trip to a fourth straight.
At least one Bay State Conference team has reached the state semifinals in every tournament since 2010 but one. At least two have reached the stage in six of the last eight. Needham, Newton North and Natick each have at least two state final trips since 2007. All three have at least one title, too, and the power four has punched three Final Four tickets in the last two state tournaments.
And yet, this year’s showing is still on pace for something rare.
Every set of MIAA Div. 1 power rankings so far this year has all four as the favorites to reach the Final Four. It would be the first time in any MIAA sport that one conference took all four spots of a division’s Final Four in the young history of the newer statewide format.
If they get there, expect fireworks. Needham and Newton North split their two matchups in five and four sets. Brookline’s first loss of the year just came to Natick in five. Brookline also went to five in a win over Newton North, and there’s high anticipation for its rematches with the Tigers and Needham.
“It’s just going to be exciting matches with the rivalry we’re creating right now,” said Brookline head coach Lexi De La Cruz. “The times we’ve struggled this year with teams was Newton North and Natick. My team, they didn’t play their best and the other teams played really good. In playoffs, that could happen with any team. We’re in a phase we’re if you’re not playing your best and you’re playing one of these teams, it’s going to be really hard to win.”
“This year in general, it’s not clear who’s going to win,” Fox added. “In the past, everybody knew that Needham was that team. I think this year, anybody can be that team. … I just feel like everybody right now is at the same place and it’s just going to be competition.”
Part of those fireworks is a testament to the four’s overwhelming talent battling toe-to-toe.
Brookline’s Kris Vaivars, Newton North’s Simon Vardeh (committed to Harvard), and Natick’s Branch Barnes are the leading candidates for Div. 1’s top outside hitter. Needham’s Andrew Kurdziel leads discussion for top middle hitter. Newton North’s Brady Dwyer is among the best liberos, Brookline’s Alec Smagula is a premier setter, and there’s a wealth of complementary pieces around each who could be the top weapons for many other programs.
“Simon Vardeh is a legit Div. 1 (collegiate) player,” Powell said. “(Barnes) is, in my opinion, a high-level college player, and I think (Vaivars) could be too. Those are three really, really talented, strong, athletic dudes playing outside hitter for these teams. And Andrew Kurdziel is one of the top middles in the state, if not the top middle. You’ve got some high-level athletes (to play against).”
Within those battles is a unique mix of brotherhood, rivalry and history.
Before and after games, opposing players and coaches are seen chatting as friends – a bond built not only through the conference, but with many of them playing club volleyball together.
As individuals, they’re tight. As opposing teams, it’s war.
“I think when we’re playing each other, it’s rivalry,” Barnes said. “But if anyone else talks about some other team that might come in the top-four, we defend each other. We’re the top four (together), but when we see you one on one, we want to beat you. It’s so exciting (to be a part of).”
“It’s a brotherhood, but ultimately, it becomes competition,” Fox added. “They want to go back to club season and be able to say they won a state championship, or they won the Bay State, or they got the best of each other. Even if it’s just those matches. It’s a lot of brotherhood, but it’s a lot of competition, too.”
For the past two years, Newton North and Needham have met in the state final, trading championships. To reach the last one, Needham had to beat Brookline in the state quarterfinals, and Newton North needed a miraculous reverse sweep over Natick in the Final Four.
The year before that, Brookline upset Natick in the state quarterfinals and nearly upended Newton North with a reverse sweep in the state semifinals – though the Tigers won the fifth set.
“(History) definitely does (feed into it),” Barnes said. “Our loss to Brookline my sophomore year in the (quarterfinals) is something that we will never forget. That was horrible. We’ve come back and we play with that fire it put in us every day. That does add to it. We’ve seen each other in the playoffs, we know we’re going to see them in the playoffs. We know that we’re the top four teams and it might end up being the Final Four.”
“Personally, I want to win a lot,” added Newton North senior setter Paul Nelson. “If another team amongst us four beats me, I’m very upset. Whenever we lost to Natick and we lost to Brookline, those are very tough losses. If any of the teams besides us win, I will be very unhappy.”
Obviously, nothing is a given for these four to reach the state semifinals. Programs like Lexington, Cambridge and New Bedford are among a next-tier group that could interrupt those runs, and Milford made it tough on Newton North in a 3-1 match last week.
For now, though, all signs point to the power four in the state semifinals.
That’s a crap-shoot worth getting excited for.
“All of us have a shot,” Nelson said.
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