Boys’ volleyball tops Greater Lawrence for 2nd win

THE WARRIORS picked up their second win yesterday in their inaugural season. Pictured on the court for the Warriors from left to right is Christian Delgado, Nathan Delgado, Joe Lamonica, Javin Willis and Rubens DaSilva. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High boys’ volleyball team picked up their second win in program history last night at the Charbonneau Field House with a 3-1 victory over Greater Lawrence. 

The win was especially sweet for the Warriors who were swept 3-0 by the Reggies in the first match of the season on April 3, signifying the vast improvement that the team has made throughout the first month of their inaugural season. 

Wakefield won the first set, 25-19, the second set, 25-21 and dropped the third set before ending it with an emphatic 25-14 win in set four.

It was a complete team effort for the Warriors in this one. Senior Javin Willis had 9 kills, followed by 8 from senior Christian Delgado, 6 from senior Nathan Delgado, 6 from junior Kameron D’Ambrosio and 3 each from juniors Joe Lamonica and Rubens DaSilva.

DaSilva, Wakefield’s only player with significant volleyball experience at the start of the season, set the tone for the Warriors in multiple facets of the game, including his incredible serve which resulted in a game-high 6 aces and his passing, with too many assists to count as he consistently set up his teammates for success. 

Lamonica, a strong net-front presence all night, collected the team’s first two kills in the initial set before Christian Delgado went to work, racking up 5 kills in the first set alone to pace the Warriors to a 12-7 lead. Junior Jayden Mena made a couple nice touches to keep plays alive and junior Declan O’Callahan had consecutive aces to make it 16-7 and force a Reggie timeout.

Another Christian Delgado kill on a cut shot later made it 18-8 and the Warriors withstood some crazy rallies before Lamonica ended it with an ace and a 1-0 set lead.

The Warriors stayed aggressive in the second set, started by DaSilva who had an ace, a kill and another ace to start the frame. D’Ambrosio had a nice cut shot kill and senior Alex Driscoll added a kill on a serve return, but most of the second set highlights belonged to Willis, who had 5 kills in the set with multiple hard hits which Greater Lawrence couldn’t handle along their back line. In many ways, Willis, the Delgado brothers, Lamonica and O’Callahan all key football players on Wakefield’s Super Bowl championship team in the Fall, are a good representation of the volleyball program, which has plenty of athleticism as they have been focusing on the fundamentals which they pick up from DaSilva on the court and head coach Matt Barboza off of it. 

Greater Lawrence cut the lead in the second to 21-19 but Wakefield held on thanks to two more kills from Willis, both set up by DaSilva as they went up 2-0.

Wakefield had some highlights in the 3^rd, mostly by Nathan Delgado who had 4 kills in the set, but they couldn’t string enough good plays together. 

The team responded as well as you can in the 4^th, dominating from start to finish. DaSilva once again set the tone, this time with three consecutive aces. Willis added 3 kills and D’Ambrosio had 2 as they stormed to a 14-5 advantage. Another DaSilva ace made it 19-9 and the Warriors finished strong for the biggest win in the program’s brand new history.

Wakefield, the newest team along with Woburn in the Middlesex League, which also features squads from Burlington, Lexington, Winchester and Arlington, will look to continue their impressive improvement tonight when they take on Malden at home at 4:15 p.m.