LYNN — Sometimes, you just can’t put your opponent away.
Lynn Classical’s boys volleyball team fell to Greater Boston League foe Somerville, 3-2, Tuesday morning in set scores of 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 23-25, and 9-15. Despite numerous comebacks throughout the match, the Rams couldn’t put Somerville away and dropped to 4-4.
The Rams took the first set, 25-19, with some stellar plays made by Leonardo Cruz Noguero, who registered an emphatic kill to make it 21-17 in favor of Classical.
Viet Tran (23 kills, 7 digs, 2 aces), with a delicate touch, hit the ball in the middle of three Somerville players – none of whom could get to it – to make it 24-19. Then, with the set on the line, Jeremiah Vargas jumped up and blocked Somerville’s kill attempt, securing a Classical win in set No. 1.
“It was a really good game and was competitive from start to finish. This is now our third five-set match in eight days and we’ve come up on the short end on all three of them. We have to find a way to finish,” said Classical Coach Chris LeBlanc. “For us, as coaches, we see these kids compete hard and when the moment gets the biggest, we kind of wilt. I don’t know how we’re going to go about fixing that, but right now, that’s a problem. We legitimately could be 8-0 and we’re 4-4 and we’re what we are. We are a 4-4 team and not a very good team.”
Tied after the second set, the third was a back-and-forth battle. Somerville went on a six-point run to take a 17-13 lead over Classical. The Rams battled back and cut it to four before finishing the third set on a high, winning nine of the next 12 points to win the set, 25-23.
“That shows what we’re capable of. I think it’s the first time all season where we found ourselves down kind of late in the set and found the composure to push through and come back and win that set,” LeBlanc said. “It was encouraging, but to back it up with two really bad sets as far as competitiveness is hard to watch.”
Somerville claimed the next two sets to go home with a big league win.
Classical’s Long Pham had 31 digs, two kills, and passed a 2.27 out of 3.0 on 62 attempts in serve receive. Junior setter Kenzel Lantano had 36 assists, four digs, and a kill.
When asked what he believes the issue is – in terms of closing and losing five-set matches – LeBlanc said the team is not making the simple play.
“A lot of times… instead of taking the play that’s in front of us, we’re trying to overcomplicate things and make the pretty set or make the cute swing or make our pass a little bit fancy instead of sticking to the fundamentals and doing what we need to do to win the point and win the game,” he said. “We’re just making our lives more difficult.”
After another disappointing five-set loss, LeBlanc was honest about his team’s performance from an individual standpoint.
“We had a bunch of kids that played great in spots, but I can’t be positive about a third five-set loss in eight days – I’m just not that guy,” he said.
Luckily for the Rams, they’re back in action Wednesday when they travel to Chelsea for a 10 a.m. match.
