Westfield’s John Bucko, left, goes head-to-head with Agawam’s Patrick Curry. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
AGAWAM – The Westfield High School boys’ volleyball team taught Agawam a lesson in history.
Westfield schooled Agawam, knocking off the previously unbeaten Brownies 3-2 Wednesday. It was quite possibly one of the Bombers’ biggest victories in more than a decade.
“It’s just a testament to how mentally strong our team is,” said Westfield coach Tyler Wingate, whose Bombers improved to 5-1 in five-set matches this season.
Westfield (12-3) rallied from the jaws of defeat – the Bombers trailed 14-11 in the final set – to win 27-25, 25-27, 25-21, 14-25, 16-14.
“I think the way we started the match, we knew we could play with them and it wasn’t too tall of a task,” coach Wingate said. “I told our guys to stick to our system, and do the little things well.”
Many players had a hand in doing a lot of little things very well.
Westfield’s Ian Wolski, who has been an outstanding marksman all season, lined up 18 kills, and added four blocks. Andy Jacques racked up 40 assists and 10 digs en route to setting up the Bombers’ victory. Jared Piubeni (8 kills, 7 blocks) and John Bucko (12 kills, 4 blocks) were also instrumental with their high level of play in the middle.
“That opened things up for the pin hitters,” Wingate said of Jacques and Piubeni.
“Agawam has a lot of fantastic hitters,” Wingate said. “We just tried to limit what they could do. I’m really proud of our effort. This was a really huge win for us. Now we’re just one step closer to our goal – the Western Mass finals.”
It was Westfield’s third victory in three days, which also included a key win against Ludlow.
“It was an awesome week for us with back-to-back-to-back wins,” Wingate said. “It was not the best schedule, but we’ll take it. I can’t recall a better week than this.
Agawam fell to 14-1.
