Lowell’s Eddie Djatcha, left, and Newton North’s Samuel Huang battle at the net during a boys volleyball clash. Newton North won, 3-0. (Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald)
LOWELL — Despite injuries plaguing a second straight regular season to knock it down in seeding, the Newton North boys volleyball team isn’t letting that get in the way of reaching its potential.
A year removed from a second-round tournament exit, the No. 7 Tigers (17-6) showed just what they’re capable of at full strength by upsetting No. 2 Lowell, 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-18) in a Div. 1 state quarterfinal on Friday.
Smiles spread like wildfire on a team that again suffered new health issues just about every other week, overcoming it to down a legitimate force in the Red Raiders (21-2).
And yet, Newton North isn’t looking at the Final Four trophy as highly as what it aspires for. It gets No. 11 Brookline next after the Warriors upset No. 3 Natick.
“They came out and really showed why we are one of the top teams in the state, and they played their best,” said Newton North head coach Nile Fox. “We’re just ready to keep competing. This feels good, but we’re not OK with it. We want to keep going. … We’ve been hungry for it for a long time.”
Star setter Tyler Randall, who missed about two weeks with an ankle injury, orchestrated an overwhelming attack that flourished in dominant second and third sets with 34 assists. Junior Adam Christianson, weeks after missing a few starts himself, led with 16 vicious kills.
Simon Vardeh proved nearly as deadly with eight kills and two aces, and Samuel Huang’s supreme athleticism broke out with seven kills and three blocks. Sophomore Paul Nelson, who hadn’t been at full health most of the year, complemented them perfectly with five kills.
It’s never easy to dominate the net against Lowell. Cody Fitzpatrick showed how dangerous he is with 13 kills, and there were plenty of jump balls at the net that Lowell won, especially in a 25-20 first-set loss.
Keeping up with Newton North’s depth proved an improbable mission, though.
“It was terrible,” said Christianson of the health woes. “This year, we were able to show I know what we could do last year. … We did really well.”
“It’s really cool to see what it looks like when we have everybody on the roster healthy,” added Fox. “I think everybody did their job. That’s something we’ve been talking about this last end of the season. … I’m really proud of them for that.”
The first set showed the expected rock fight of the highly-anticipated matchup between one of the best in the Bay State Conference and the best of the Merrimack Valley Conference. Tyrell Lout showed off his versatility, and Ceazar Joseph flashed some pop alongside Fitzpatrick to make it interesting.
But after the Tigers’ four primary hitters combined for 14 kills to take that opening set, all phases erupted for Newton North.
Lowell struggled to get much past the blocking of Huang, Peter Reale and Christianson. The Red Raiders picked up steam to fight well toward the end of the set, but trading points only did so much in a 25-16 loss. The momentum didn’t carry over into the third, with Newton North surging to a 14-3 lead as its stars continued to shine.
Lowell utilized good passing and more strong hitting from Fitzpatrick to outscore Newton North 15-11 the rest of the way, but it was far too little for a comeback.
“(Losing last year) fueled us a lot,” Fox said. “We made a pact that we didn’t want to go out in the second round like we did last year. We’ve just been pushing after that.”
