MEDWAY, Mass. – The Milford volleyball team made history on Wednesday evening at Medway High. The Hawks defeated Medfield 3-0 and claimed their second straight Central sectional title. It was the first time since the program was created in 1984 that the team had won the sectional in consecutive seasons.
Milford (20-1) was the deeper and more talented team on Wednesday and controlled the opening game on the way to a comfortable 25-13 start. The Warriors (18-3) made things much more interesting in the second game, mostly due to the Hawks mistakes and poor serving, but still Milford came away with a 25-21 set.
In the third and final game, Medfield came out strong and had an early lead, but the Hawks went on a 9-0 run to break up a 14-14 tie. Senior setter Tim MacMannis keyed the run with four aces that helped Milford regain the momentum and finally break Medfield’s resistance.
Linda Zacchilli, who created the program and has been the head coach for 24 years, was pleased with the team’s overall performance with the exception of a sloppy second game.
“The only place that I really don’t think we did well was in the second game from the service line,” she noted. “The last game, they [Medfield] did a lot of good things to get points and it’s much different if they’re scoring the points. The unforced errors were difficult in the second game, but we pulled it together in the end.”
“We’re running everything as quick as we can to keep the other team off-balance, to keep the block from being able to close,” she said. “When you have a very good center and kids that can jump, you keep working it and eventually it all clicks.”
MacMannis drew much of the credit for the team’s style of play. The senior recorded 32 assists, most of them to outside hitters Mike Soares (13 kills, six blocks) and junior Mike Antonellis (15 kills, two blocks). In addition to his accurate passing, MacMannis also plays the crucial role of getting everyone involved early and making sure that the hits are spread around.
Zacchilli said, “He’s definitely my quarterback out there. Without him, we definitely wouldn’t be where we are right now. He gives everyone an opportunity to swing, which is nice because it keeps everybody happy.”
Milford also got a solid overall game from senior Adam Zouranjian (five kills, three aces, two blocks, and two service points) and an impressive contribution from senior Jose Cora (eight kills). Zacchilli knows that depth will be crucial to getting to the state championship game.
Milford and Lawrence split the first two meetings this season and Zacchilli is looking forward to Saturday’s semifinal at Hudson High.
“It’s just great volleyball. I think it would be a great match-up.”