Dropping the first set in a home matchup against Westborough, another defending champion and top team in the state, the Newton North girls’ volleyball team saw the type of play it had to contend with.
Ramping up their serves and finding ways to land kills, the top-ranked Tigers fought back to earn a 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-23 nonleague victory on Wednesday night.
“I think we were good today, I think we were a good version of ourselves and it was a gritty win,” said Newton North coach Nile Fox. “This is one of the best teams we’re going to see. This is top level volleyball. I think it was a gritty win we had.”
Senior Chloe Lee (12 kills) found the right opportunities to step forward and slam down a ball, and junior Devon Burke kept up the intensity at the net, mashing 10 kills and a block for the Tigers (13-1), but often finding a way to get the Rangers (12-1) scrambling.
“Wherever the open court is, I try to find it,” Burke said. “Whether that’s hitting it less hard or placing it, I like to find the holes in the court and the holes through the block.”
Freshman Sasha Selivan mixed up the setting throughout, sometimes leaving the ball not too high to give Westborough less time to set the block, and twice in the third set, surprising the defense with a kill of her own.
“As a team we know, because coach has told us before, especially on good teams, the block is going to beat us there, especially if it’s a slow high ball,” Selivan said. “There are so many situations where our pins are very important, the hot hands during the game. If I keep getting the ball there, the other team is going to start pushing their block and cheat there.”
After playing five-setters on back-to-back days against top-5 teams last week, and suffering their first loss of the year to No. 5 Barnstable, it’s a big win for the Tigers to show they’re still in top form.
“This was definitely a good win, but we still have a bit to go,” Lee said. “I’ve been waiting for this game for a while, because it’s one of our biggest games this entire season. It’s fun and it’s out of our division.”
For the Rangers, it showed they have work to do to compete with the best, but they’re close and they showed fight. Senior Quinn Anderson led with 20 kills.
“Clearly we have to execute better in a couple phases of the game,” said Westborough coach Roger Anderson. “They definitely beat us in the serve/receive phase of the game. I was really proud of the way our girls responded. They put a ton of pressure on you and we never folded.”
AJ Traub can be reached at aj.traub@globe.com. Follow him on X @aj_traub and Instagram @ajt37.