Methuen nets MVC victory over Chelmsford in five-set thriller

METHUEN – It took 26 years for the Methuen boys volleyball workforce to lastly reclaim the Merrimack Valley Convention title final yr.

Friday night time, the must-win Rangers stored their hopes for a repeat alive.

Seniors Lucas Giard (24 kills, 5 blocks) and Shawn LaDuke (55 assists) erupted in a match No. 19 Chelmsford clawed again a number of instances in, pairing with Andrew Cox (19 kills) to assist No. 14 Methuen (9-3, 7-2) intestine out a 3-2 (25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 26-28, 15-12) win.

After dropping their MVC opener to the Lions (7-3, 6-2) after which a five-set thriller to Lowell (10-1, 7-0) on Monday, the Rangers knew simply how a lot they wanted this one.

“We talked about it, we knew it was an (MVC) must-win for us,” stated Methuen head coach Matt Twomey. “In case you have three Merrimack Valley Convention losses, it’s going to be actually onerous and also you’re going to want plenty of assist. … Hopefully when (Lowell) comes right here, we play as powerful towards them as we did towards Chelmsford at present, and I’m positive it’ll nonetheless be a slugfest.”

Methuen's Elijah Jean and Andrew Cox jump up to the net during a volleyball match against Chelmsford. Host Methuen won, 3-2. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald) — Methuen’s Elijah Jean and Andrew Cox leap as much as the online throughout a volleyball match towards Chelmsford. Host Methuen received, 3-2. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)

A part of that 3-2 loss to Lowell included a 30-28 loss within the fourth set after main the match 2-1. After Methuen led 21-17 and 24-22 in Friday’s fourth set, Chelmsford’s Liam Quinn (17 kills, three aces) mixed with Ridty Tauch (24 kills, three blocks) for 14 kills within the body to beat the deficit and drive a fifth set with a 28-26 win.

However not like Monday, the Rangers pieced collectively sufficient within the fifth to take the match.

Giard notched a kill early as a part of a 6-1 begin, then notched two extra forward of an Adrian Blake (10 kills, two blocks) block that gave Methuen a 9-2 lead. Kills from Blake and Cox prolonged the result in 12-5, which proved sufficient of a cushion to resist a 7-2 response from Chelmsford – anchored by a pair of kills from Tauch and Gavin Lin (10 kills).

The Lions wanted simply two factors to drive extra further factors, however LaDuke related with Cox to cap off a powerful win regardless of lacking starters Thomas Le (center hitter) and Cole Tourkantonis (outdoors hitter).

Jayden Cox (seven kills) additionally performed nicely for Methuen.

Chelmsford's Jayden Som makes contact with the ball as Methuen's Shawn LaDuke looks on during a volleyball game match on Friday night. (Libby O'Neill/Boston Herald) — Chelmsford’s Jayden Som makes contact with the ball as Methuen’s Shawn LaDuke appears to be like on throughout a volleyball sport match on Friday night time. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)

“Guys have actually stepped up huge, I really feel like we put plenty of emphasis on ensuring that we restrict our unforced errors,” Twomey stated. “When this workforce performs clear, they’re powerful. This can be a powerful workforce. I feel lots of people counted us out having misplaced Drew (Eason) and James (Levesque) final yr, however as you possibly can see, we now have firepower for days.

“It simply speaks to how onerous these guys have labored. … When different groups are getting gassed, these guys are simply getting going.”

Limiting Quinn and Tauch sufficient to tug this one out was a serious spotlight for Twomey, particularly from libero Gavin Sparks’ 25 digs positioned within the middle-back.

“Simply within the middle-back, he was in a position to contact way more balls within the again row and that positively helped us,” Twomey stated. “And our protection down the stretch was nice. … I feel (Blake) and particularly (Giard) did an incredible job of form of shutting down (Quinn) tonight.”