Girls Volleyball Catching Fire Heading Towards Postseason

October 18, 2024

• After a sweep of Weymouth, Needham is looking strong as the regular season concludes.

Three seasons removed from their second of two state titles, Needham Girls Volleyball is still one of the top teams in Massachusetts. On Tuesday, October 15th, the Rockets hosted Bay State Herget foe Weymouth, sweeping them in three sets, 25-16, 25-20 and 25-9.

In the first set, the Wildcats, whose 2-14 record coming in might not have looked very impressive, jumped out in front leading 6-2. But Needham battled back, taking their first lead at 10-9 on an ace by Isabella Lee, then going up 17-11 (those numbers sound familiar, eh?) before Weymouth scored five in a row to pull within one, 17-16.

Needham Head Coach Courtney Todesco called a timeout which got the Rockets back on track, as they didn’t give up another point in the first set, scoring eight straight points. Sadie Stants served up another Needham ace to close it out.

The second set started out with Needham continuing to dominate and Lee had a big hand in that, coming up with a bunch of assists. For instance, after a punch dig by Libero Lizzie Tam, Lee set up Emma Nolfi for a kill to put the Rockets up 4-2. Morgan Kraft also picked up a kill after the set by Lee helped Needham build as much as a nine point lead. Weymouth came back, bull fell short in the end after a serve by Reese Smith went out and the Rockets held on for the closest set win of the game, 25-20.

Needham dominated from start to finish in the third set as Kraft, known to Needham fans on the Softball Field, and Eva Andrews, one of Rockets Girls Basketball’s big names, both saw big minutes. Andrews picked up a kill that gave the Rockets an 11-1 lead. She also had a block to make it 20-6 Needham before the Rockets closed it out, 25-9.

After the Weymouth win, Needham also swept Framingham two days later, to improve their regular season record to 12-4. In the latest MIAA Division 1 Power Rankings, released on Friday morning, October 18th, Needham is holding pat at #5. They have three regular season games left, including one at #8 Barnstable as well as Braintree, before Senior Night at home against Walpole on Thursday, October 24th.

Mike Levin has highlights of the win over Weymouth, from our October 17th edition of the Needham Channel News:

These highlights ran as part of the Needham Channel News, a weekly newscast airing on The Needham Channel every Thursday at 7:30pm. The Needham Channel News can be found on the Community Channel: Comcast 9, Astound 15 and Verizon 29. Most Thursdays it also can be viewed on our HD Channel on Verizon 2129, Astound 613 and streaming on this site.

The Needham Channel is your home for Needham Rockets Varsity Sports and you can watch every game we go to, on The Needham Channel’s HD, Community and Education Channels, as well as streaming on needhamchannel.org and our Roku app. We also have game stories from every game here on Needham Local, as well as football highlights posted to our Needham Channel YouTube page on Mondays. You can also follow live game action via our X page at: x.com/tnc_sports.

As of October 2024, The Needham Channel is looking to hire a new full-time Sports Producer. We are looking for someone who is passionate about sports at all levels and is hoping to find their first opportunity in the business. You can see the full listing here: needhamlocal.org/now-hiring/

TNC is also looking for volunteers who want to help out as crew and announcers for all of our game broadcasts this school year. If you love sports or know someone on a team, send an email to TNC Programming Manager Mike Levin at: mlevin@needhamchannel.org.

Be sure to check out the TNC Instagram page, for all of our content from the 2024 Needham Fall Sports Season at: instagram.com/theneedhamchannel.