HIGH SCHOOL BOYS VOLLEYBALL: North Quincy runs win streak to 17, advances to Div. 2 semis

QUINCY – Hey, look, the North Quincy High boys volleyball team already has bagged a trophy.

It might not be the ultimate prize that the Raiders are shooting for, but it'll do nicely until the bigger one (maybe) comes along.

North Quincy dropped its season opener, to Greater New Bedford Voke, on April 6 and hasn't lost since. The Raiders made it 17 straight wins Friday by blanking Nipmuc Regional, 3-0, in the Division 2 state quarterfinals.

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Since this round of the statewide tournament was the equivalent of a sectional final in the old playoff system, the MIAA hands out Final Four trophies. The top-seeded Raiders gladly accepted theirs after a 25-23, 25-22, 25-14 conquest of the No. 9 seed.

"Yeah, it's really cool," junior outside hitter Nathan Caldwell said. "I think every player on this team, that's the first trophy they've ever received in high school. Obviously, we want to go as far as we can. This is a big accomplishment, but in the long run it's not really what we're aiming for. We want it all, like everyone else."

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The top seeds in Division 2 have held. No. 1 North Quincy (17-1) will face No. 4 Milford (22-3) in one state semifinal (details TBA). The winner there plays for the big trophy against either No. 2 Greater New Bedford Voke (16-3) or No. 3 Westfield (22-1), who square off Monday at North High School in Worcester at 6 p.m.

"It's very exciting," said first-year coach Megan Johnston, who starred for the NQ girls program (and later Eastern Nazarene College) in the late 1990s. "Coming in new, I had no idea what to expect, so these are all amazing surprises. But I knew they had the potential. I think they've met expectations as far as how they play."

Cameron Johnston, a 6-foot-4 sophomore right-side hitter (and the coach's son), led NQ with 23 kills, impressing Nipmuc coach Brian Gerard along the way.

"North Quincy played very well, very clean," Gerard said. "And that No. 24 (Cameron Johnston), who's just a sophomore, he's got a lot of good sets ahead of him."

Nipmuc (20-4) had won 11 straight matches, dropping only three games total in that stretch. Two of the Warriors' losses this season were to Milford, NQ's next opponent.  Gerard thinks the Raiders stack up well in the semis.

"Anytime a team stays in system" they can be successful, he said. "And they have a very good setter, No. 11 (Bobby Lin); he gives a good ball to hit. If they just continue to do that, they're going to hang and bang with just about anybody. They're not the No. 1 seed for nothing."

This match turned early. Nipmuc led for most of the first game, up by scores of 13-7 and 18-13. The teams then traded mini-runs down the stretch before NQ closed with six straight points, the last coming when Nipmuc couldn't handle Lin's serve with the ball bouncing off the ceiling and coming straight down onto the floor.

Junior Dylan Clifford had a huge point to give NQ a 24-23 lead when, flat-footed, he simply swatted a ball over his head into a vacated section of the floor. And Cameron Johnston had the big play just before that one, blocking Alexander Vanasse, Nipmuc's 6-foot-5 junior, to knot the score at 23-all.

"That was huge," Cameron Johnston said. "After that one block I had on a really good hitter, one of the best hitters we've faced all season, I think everybody was just hyped. I think from there we knew that we'd win this game."

Said Caldwell: "We didn't start as strong as we'd like to (in the first game), but once we got rolling we kept our foot on the gas pedal and kept going. We worked hard for it."

NQ led wire to wire in Game 2 as the near-miss in Game 1 seemed to linger in Nipmuc's minds.

"We've been in that position several times this year," Gerard said. "The second time we played Milford we were up 16-5 and we ended up losing 25-23. When you lose a tight, competitive first set like that, sometimes it takes a little wind out of your sails. Although we've risen above things like that (in the past), it just wasn't our day."

Vanasse was a big presence for Nipmuc in the first game, but NQ blunted his impact in the final two games.

"They keyed on him," Gerard said. "Once you find out who the big hitter is, the next thing you know everybody's over there (to try to block him). That's when we would like other people to step up. Sam Powers, No. 14 on the right side, has lit it up all season. And Travis Kierstead, No. 7, (has been strong all season). That 1-2-3 punch has been wonderful for us. Travis and Sam did not have the type of match that I was hoping for. So when you key on one guy (Vanasse), no matter how tall he is or how high he can jump, if you've got a double block on him all the time, it's a difficult task for anybody."

Nipmuc took the lead early in Game 3, but Clifford's kill put the Raiders in front for good at 8-7. NQ ripped off runs of 7-0 and 5-0 to take control, clinching the match on Cameron Johnston's ace.

"The last game wasn't as close," Cameron Johnston said. "I feel like we were kind of eying the trophy already."

Lin led NQ with 36 assists. Adam Huang had 15 digs, and Caldwell and Liam Bailey added 10 each. One of Bailey's digs was an acrobatic diving one in Game 1 that Megan Johnston said was a big turning point.

NQ has lost only 8 games total in its winning streak, having ben pushed to five games just twice – against Brockton and Quincy.

"I'll give credit to Coach," Lin said, "because she's been pushing us ever since (the season-opening loss). Every practice she just keeps pushing us, making sure we try our hardest."

If things break right, NQ could get a chance to avenge its lone loss in the state final against Greater New Bedford . The Raiders lost the first meeting, 3-0.

"First game, it was our first time playing together as a team," Cameron Johnston said. "I got hurt like eight points into the game. No one was in motion. After that we all clicked. And now, who knows, maybe we'll be state champions."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: North Quincy boys volleyball wins 17th straight to make Div. 2 semis