On Friday, Needham faced Newton North in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Needham Rockets fell just short of the Newton North Tigers by a score of 3-2. The Rockets haven't had much luck with the Tigers recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
In a back-and-forth that saw neither team win consecutive sets, Needham sadly dropped the once that decided the match. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-13.
Despite the loss, Needham still got an impressive performance from Eleanore Alley, who had ten digs.
Even though they lost, Needham was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 16 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in nine consecutive games.
Alexa Marucci went supernova for Newton North, getting 20 digs and two aces. Marucci is on a roll when it comes to aces, as she's now served two or more in the last four games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Cindy Qiao, who had 11 digs.
Needham's loss dropped their record down to 6-3. As for Newton North, the victory for them keeps them at an undefeated 10-0.
Needham has already played their next contest, a 3-2 win against Newton South on the 30th. As for Newton North, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 3-0 victory against Walpole on the 1st.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
