LOWELL — Thursday’s spherical of 32 boys volleyball conflict between Lowell and Boston Latin was a helpful barometer for Pink Raider head coach Paul McCarthy as he witnesses his inexperienced staff blossom on the large stage.
Lowell earned a 3-0 win on its dwelling courtroom, because the Pink Raiders relied on well timed play in 25-16, 30-28, 30-28 units that McCarthy believes is a product of his squad’s improvement this spring.
Headlined by Aundre Rivera (11 kills, 13 digs) and Vitou Seng (33 assists), a Lowell staff riddled with youth gutted out a win extra typically yielded by a seasoned class of veterans to advance to the spherical of 16.
No. 14 Lowell (19-2) will seemingly meet No. 3 Needham within the subsequent spherical of the Division 1 state event as No. 19 Boston Latin (13-6) ends its season with a valiant effort on the highway.
“It could have gone either way, and that’s what’s surprising,” McCarthy mentioned. “My team is so young. At the beginning of the season, we’d lose that match. But they’ve grown up a little bit.”
The groups have been knotted at eight within the first set till Lowell broke it open with a 5-0 run and by no means appeared again to safe what would show to be an necessary cushion forward of the next units. Logan Uy (32 digs) showcased his defensive skills with eight digs within the body to help the Pink Raiders.
It was a marathon to the end line of the second set, as either side traded blows till Lowell clinched the 30-28 win.
Boston Latin’s Nicolas Tse (13 kills) countered with a pair of well timed kills to maintain the Wolfpack alive, however clutch digs by Rivera mitigated the harm to set the desk for a block from Gianni Rodriguez (10 kills, six blocks) to seal the win.
Just like the earlier two units, Boston Latin had a solution to an early Lowell lead within the closing set whereas on the point of elimination to finally tie the sport at 19 to set off a back-and-forth rally to the top.
Seng doled out 17 assists within the set and was the anchor of Lowell’s resilience. A junior captain, Seng has been a key cog in Lowell’s management group this season to mentor a younger staff.
“No one thought we were going to win, and we just use it as motivation during practice and always try our best,” Seng mentioned.
In the meantime, Rivera tallied some essential kills, together with a dagger to tie the third set at 26 amid a myriad of motion, to propel Lowell to victory.
“Any big moment kill just means a lot because we keep the game alive and keep our game going,” Rivera mentioned. “We just don’t want the season to end. We want to keep on going.”
Cory Tse (19 digs) and Ryan Nguyen (15 assists) fueled the comeback efforts for Boston Latin.
“They really fought, and I really believed the second and third set could have gone either way,” mentioned Boston Latin head coach Kai Yuen. “Kudos to (Lowell), they definitely did enough to win those sets, and they move on.”
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