Come Together: Medfield Boys' Volleyball Team Making Strides this Season

The Medfield High School boys' volleyball team entered the 2011 season with little playing experience at  the varsity level and together as a team.

Now, with just one game remaining on the regular season schedule – at home Monday against Boston College High at 6:30 p.m. – the Warriors have recorded an 11-5 overall record and are 7-3 in league play. As a result, Medfield achieved its season goal with that record – qualifying for the state tournament. 

"I think the expectation [of the season] first is to make the tournament, put a team together and be able to play together and so far, so good," said Medfield coach Jack Hastings. "We made the tournament last week, then [the next goal is] to do better than what we did last year in the tournament. Last year we got knocked out in the second round and we would like to be able to at least go through the second round and go as far as we can."

That goal may appear to be lofty on paper and at times throughout the season as the Warriors are a team with little varsity experience.

"I’ve only got three kids that have played for me," said Hastings. "Out of that starting group that I have, there’s one kid that has played four years for me, two other kids that have played two other years and everybody else is a first year player."

Despite that lack of experience, Medfield has found success on the court behind its tri-captains: Wesley Cheung, Elliot Nolan and Kevin Whelan. That trio of talent was on full-display Thursday in Millis during a 3-0 league win over the Mohawks. Cheung consistently set-up Nolan and Whelan and those two each delivered hard, crushing hits that often left Millis defenseless. 

"I expected that to come out of those players, not as good as they have been doing, but at least be competitive and to be able to carry it out for us," Hastings said. "You can definitely see that they’re more experienced than the other guys but the other guys are really picking it up too."

As a team, the Warriors have come together in many ways this season and on Thursday, the team won decisively in all three sets, despite a late Millis surge in the third set to finish five-points behind Medfield.

In Game 1, the Warriors went on two key runs that led to a 25-18 game victory. Leading 10-9, the Warriors rattled off four straight points and then leading 14-12 went off for six straight to lead 20-12. Millis went on a 5-0 run of its own before stalling out and dropping the first set to Medfield. 

Game 2 was all Medfield as the Warriors crushed Millis, 25-8 in the set to take a 2-0 lead. Medfield started the set on a 5-0 run and went on several runs of three points or more to cruise past the Mohawks. 

Millis played its best set in Game 3 but could not overcome a strong Warriors' attack. The Mohawks opened the set on a 4-1 run before Medfield took an 8-5 lead followed by an 18-9 lead before watching Millis storm back late, pulling within four at 24-20 before the Warriors secured the game-winning point to notch the victory. Despite the 3-0 win, Hastings saw plenty for his team to work on. 

"They did what they had to do. They’re still making a lot of mistakes," Hastings said. "I’m pretty happy with the way it has come out so far but we still have a long way to go, hopefully."

Hastings elaborated that communication and playing with confidence are the two main things he would like to see his team work on as they prepare for the state tournament. 

"We have got to talk to each other and everything," he said. "They’re ready to play in the tournament but probably only in the first round. They just got to keep on being more consistent than what they’ve been. We’ve had games where we’ve played really well and then these lapses that just all of a sudden they fall apart. That’s indicative of a team that is kind of young."