Needham Girls Sweep Pair of Playoff Games Over Winchester

November 9, 2024

• The Rockets held off the Red and Black in both contests to advance.

Playoff Fever has engulfed Needham Rockets Fall Sports and on Saturday both Girls Volleyball and Girls Soccer kept their seasons alive with victories over the Winchester Red and Black. In a doubleheader at Needham High, the Rockets first won inside the A gym, with Girls Volleyball taking their game 3-1, followed by Girls Soccer winning 2-1 at Memorial Field.

Rockets Girls Volleyball got things started with a dominating first set, in which they jumped out to a 12-6 lead, which grew to 21-12 before Needham finished it off 25-15 on a kill by Emma Nolfi. Coco Cusick led the Rockets in the first set, with three kills and three blocks, while Sadie Stants added a pair of aces.

Set two would be closer, but Needham still prevailed, 25-19. Cusick added three more kills and another block to bring her total to six kills and four blocks. The Red and Black would start the third set strong, taking an early 11-6 lead before the Rockets came back to pull within one, at 14-13. Winchester would hold them off, though, taking set three 25-22.

The fourth set would be a classic, with Needham taking a much as a 17-11 lead (Bill Dermody’s favorite score!!), before Winchester came back to tie it at 24 and send it to extra points. But Needham was determined to see it through, taking it 29-27 to advance to their second straight State Semifinal, where they will once again play Bay State Conference rival Newton North, who’s won the last two Division 1 State Titles.

In fact, between the Rockets and the Tigers, they have won each of the last four State Championships, dating back to 2019 (with no champion in 2020 due to Covid-19). But the Rockets will be looking to make it to their first title game since 2021, when they beat Newton North for their second straight championship. This year’s matchup with be on Tuesday, November 12th at 7:30pm from Newton South.

As for the victory over Winchester, Cusick and Alex Sykora led Needham with nine kills each, with Lisa O’Leary adding eight. Cusick also led the team in blocks, with eight, and Emma Nolfi added seven. Libero Lizzy Tam had five aces for the Rockets, with Stants adding three.

After Girls Volleyball beat Winchester, it was the Girls Soccer team’s turn and they didn’t disappoint. Although the Red and Black came out firing, it was the Rockets who scored first, thanks to Hannah Levine, scoring a goal with 18:10 left in the first half. Nine minutes later, Sydney Kalaw found the back of the net as well, putting Needham on top 2-0 at halftime.

Winchester would score a goal within the first 13 minutes of the second half, but Needham Keeper Natalia Ly would keep the Red and Black off the board after that, saving ten of their eleven shots on goal. The Rockets advance to the Quarterfinal round at #4 Bishop Feehan on Wednesday, November 13th at 6pm.

Unfortunately, the news on Saturday wasn’t all good for the Rockets, as Boys Soccer would fall 1-0 at St. John’s Shrewsbury, despite Needham taking the higher seed to overtime for the second straight game. The Rockets finish their season at 11-9-1.

The Needham Channel Instagram account has a ton of content from Saturday, including highlights from Girls Soccer, the winning point from Girls Volleyball, as well as postgame interviews with Coco Cusick and Mary Carr from Volleyball:

 

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Be sure to come back to needhamlocal.org and needhamchannel.org, as well as our social media channels for updates from and about our playoff coverage. Our Sports X page is: x.com/tnc_sports, and our Instagram is: instagram.com/theneedhamchannel.