Dartmouth Speed Bump was Not Enough to Stop the Undefeated Rangers

WESTBOROUGH – Communication and bravery has been the mantra of the top seeded Westborough High School volleyball team all season long and it has served

Senior captain Christine Li goes up for a spike. Photo by Kevin Paul Saleeba

them well.

Despite a second set hiccup on Saturday against eighth ranked Dartmouth High School, when the Rangers faced the adversity of losing only their third set all season long, that mindset kicked in to push their game to another level.

After winning the first set 25-10, Westborough’s communication seemed to wane and their attacks appeared less effective in the second set. Dartmouth was more energized coming out of the break as a fiery speech from Dartmouth coach Rachel Lassey had her team pumped.

Westborough began the set with an errant spike over the back line to set the tone for Dartmouth’s push. The Indians jumped out to a 5-0 and 10-5 lead at one point. However, despite being down, the Rangers were able to tie the set 12-12 with a Grace Burns kill with an assist from Christine Li. But Dartmouth went on a 7-3 run to go up 19-15 and, again, the Rangers battled back to a 19-19 tie capped by an Addyson Moore ace. Dartmouth closed the set out on a 6-2 run.

Sophomore Addyson Moore makes a serve. Photo by Kevin Paul Saleeba

As the teams switched sides, the Dartmouth players were excited to be tied with one of the state’s best teams. They were high-fiving, hugging, and jumping up and down. Dartmouth had all the momentum. Although that’s what they thought. The match was not over. The Rangers sideline was calm, cool, and collected. They simply took a collective deep breath and decided to fall back on playing Westborough’s brand of volleyball that has earned them a 19-0 record up to this point in their season.

Westborough head coach Roger Anderson sums up their brand of volleyball as “just working really, really hard on every single point. Communicating at a very high level and being brave at big moments. I think those are the things we think are important.”

Dropping the second set was that big moment for the Rangers. With the match tied and their mantra in mind, Westborough dominated the next two sets, 25-11, 25-11, to end Dartmouth’s hopes of continuing in the tournament.

Junior Shannon Clark watches her serve. Photo by Kevin Paul Saleeba

Both Li and Burns had stellar performances leading the Rangers with eight kills each. Li also had two blocks and six aces, while Burns had three blocks. Junior Shannon Clark contributed with 44 assists and three kills.

Westborough knocks off Dartmouth, a tough team, to improve their record to a perfect 20-0. Anderson said his team has become battle tested throughout the

season because they have played a difficult schedule. “I think we play a really tough schedule all year long and we look to challenge ourselves to get better every single day,” he said. “Those are the kind of things that are really important to us. So, you know, we played some really, really good teams and that prepares us for whoever gets in front of us.”

The next team in front of them will be fifth ranked Melrose, who are 15-1 and ranked first in Middlesex County and they sport a 21-2 overall record. The Final Four Division 2 MIAA match will be played at Watertown High School tonight at 7 p.m.