NEW BEDFORD — The Whalers are back.
It's been almost 10 years since New Bedford High School's boys volleyball team won a championship at Z. Walter Janiak Fieldhouse.
That streak ended Friday night.
The undefeated Whalers continued their perfect record this year by defeating rival GNB Voktech 3-0 in front of a sold-out crowd to retain the City Challenge Cup trophy and defeating the Bears to earn a rare regular season sweep. I got it.
“It was amazing. We were waiting for that and we got it,” Bedford College's new senior setter Carter Barboza said of his team's first win over GNB Voktech since 2015 on the Bears' home court. .
This rivalry has been fairly one-sided in recent years, with GNB Voc-Tech dominating for the past decade or so, but the Whalers have turned a corner this season.
“It reminds me of when it used to be like this, when it was up and down every year and you never knew who was going to win the city title,” New Bedford head coach Ben Keterle said. “We've come a long way.”
Even though New Bedford won in three sets, Voktech challenged the Whalers in the first two sets and their maximum lead was just six points. The Bears led 10-9 in the third set, but New Bedford pulled away by nine points.
Keterle said the level of men's volleyball across the city of New Bedford has greatly increased because of the offseason, when players from both teams practice with each other. Voc-Tech head coach Richie Gomez has worked with many of New Bedford's players through Supreme, and several of the Bears played for Keterle in the Bay State game.
“I coach a lot of players at Bay State and he coaches my players in the winter. We're trying to raise this level,” Keterle said. “When we're on the court we're giving our all, but off the court we're all training together as City, so it's good to see City playing at a high level.” When we're not doing that, we're rooting for each other to go far.
“This is the best rivalry in volleyball for Massachusetts high schools, and it's getting back to that level.”
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Preparing for success
The driving force behind New Bedford's impressive season was the play of Barboza, a third-year starting setter.
“He lets us go,” Keterle said. “He's the easiest kid in the world to coach. He's smart. He's talented. He's got everything going. He's the leader and the centerpiece and he touches the ball on every play.” , it's great to be consistent. He's very reliable.”
Barbosa started as a middle hitter on the JV team as a freshman at New Bedford High School. When he moved to the varsity team as a sophomore, he converted to setter.
“My sophomore year they molded me as a setter and I was fine,” said Barbosa, who will attend Harvard next year. “I was a total novice when it came to setting up. I continued to work on it last year. I'm at my peak right now.”
Barbosa said there are so many options online this year. Five different hitters had at least three kills on Friday, with Juan Grau Montano and Nylon Foster leading the way with seven kills each.
“It made my job a lot easier,” said Barbosa, who had 20 assists and four digs. “It's amazing. I love the power of every time I set the ball. I don't have to worry about it. I know I'm going to get kills wherever I go. Opposite, middle, outside, we have a lot of great weapons.”
Bedford's new junior middle hitter, Amir Salif Tavares, said Barboza sets the tone on and off the court.
“Carter is truly the foundation of our team,” Coach Tavares said. “He's just a great leader. He keeps us all calm. He plays smart. He challenges us on the court and off the court.
“He's going to Harvard, so we really care about his studies and he pushes us to do that, too. He's a great guy for us off the court and on the court. He’s a really great motivator.”
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how did it happen
The first set was tied at 20 points, and the Whalers won five of the next six points on blocks from Montano, winning 25-21. Even in a close second set, New Bedford used four consecutive serves from junior Nick Rosa to pull away midway through and win 25-21. After being tied at 10 points in the third set, New Bedford outscored Voktech 15-6 the rest of the way and won 25-16.
its meaning
The win improves New Bedford to 15-0 overall. The Whalers host Brockton on Monday. …With this loss, Voc-Tech falls to his 10-4 record. The Bears host Quincy on Monday.
Note
Colin Stuessi led the Bears with 10 kills and 18 digs, Arjen Rodriguez had 12 assists and nine digs, and Carlos Anya added five kills and two blocks.
