The Westfield Bombers will face off against the Longmeadow Lancers at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Westfield is coming into the contest hot, having won their last eight games.
Westfield is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Massachusetts' top teams: Chicopee Comp, who was ranked 20th at the time (Westfield was ranked seventh). The Bombers were the clear victors by a 3-0 margin over the Colts on Monday.
Westfield not only won, but also showed off some consistency: they kept Chicopee Comp between 16 and 19 points across their sets. The match finished with set scores of 25-19, 25-16, 25-18.
Giovanni Gonzalez
| 04/28/25 @ Chicopee Comp | 39 |
| 04/24/25 vs Ludlow | 35 |
| 04/10/25 @ Frontier Regional | 18 |
| 04/16/25 vs Chicopee Comp | 16 |
| 04/14/25 @ Minnechaug Regional | 15 |
Westfield relied on the efforts of Nolan Rodgers, who had 15 digs and three aces, and Giovanni Gonzalez, who had 39 assists and five digs. Those 39 assists gave Gonzalez a new career-high.
They weren't the only good server: Westfield was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 12 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least 11 aces in eight consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Longmeadow got the win against Frontier Regional on Monday by a conclusive 3-0. The win continues a trend for the Lancers in their matchups with the Red Hawks: they've now won three in a row.
Longmeadow never let Frontier Regional on the board, but things got pretty close in the second set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-10, 25-23, 25-20.
Westfield better focus on containing Chris Bousquet and Nhan Vuong as the pair were huge in Longmeadow's win. Bousquet had eight digs and four assists, while Vuong hit 100% for six kills and 28 assists and one block. Vuong is on a roll when it comes to assists, as he's now posted 14 or more in each of the last 35 games he's played dating back to last season. Thomas Breed also deserves some recognition as he had his first dig of the season.
Westfield pushed their record up to 10-1 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Longmeadow, their win bumped their record up to 8-4.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's match: Westfield has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 11.2 aces per game. However, it's not like Longmeadow struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.2 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Westfield took their victory against Longmeadow when the teams last played back in June of 2024 by a conclusive 3-0 score. Will the Bombers repeat their success, or do the Lancers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
