Warriors whip Andover to claim North

Here’s hoping that Wayland volleyball coach Rod Fletcher treated his son Jack to something more substantial than a burger and a Coke after last night’s Division 1 North final.

The senior co-captain helped lead the No. 2 Warriors to their first North title, sweeping No. 1 Andover 25-16, 25-17, 25-22 in Tewksbury. Fletcher, an outside hitter, led Wayland (22-2) in both kills (17) and service points (22) as the larger Warriors simply built a wall at the net that Andover (22-2) could not break through.

“There’s a lot of big kids in D1 volleyball, but we work very hard on fundamental blocking because being big doesn’t always translate into being a good blocker,” said coach Fletcher, retiring after the season. “I’ve coached Jack and a number of these kids from youth soccer and basketball since second grade. He’s a great kid, but so too are all these kids.”

Junior setter Asa Greenaway racked up 42 assists, while classmate Oliver Moody chipped in 15 kills.

Andover, which was perfect in conference to win its first Merrimack Valley Conference title since 2009, gave the Warriors all they could handle in the final game. Feeding off captain Devin Dean and middle hitter Calvin Fumicello, Andover built a 7-1 lead to energize their large crowd. But Wayland fought back, breaking a 22-all tie and scoring the final three points to set up a showdown with undefeated South champion Needham.

“We’re going to have our hands full,” said Fletcher.

Central sectional

Natick 3, Leominster 2 — The 11th-ranked Redhawks (13-7) proved resilient once again, defeating the No. 4 seeds 19-25, 25-16, 25-13, 2225, 15-11 at Concord-Carlisle High for its first Central title since 2010.

“We never thought we were going to go so far,” said Natick coach Peter Suxho. “We fought to make the tournament, and to find ourselves in this position, we were going to fight to make sure we won tonight.”

The Redhawks — sporting zero seniors on their roster, versus 11 for Leominster (19-3) — roared back after dropping the first set, and were poised and prepared when the Blue Devils sent the match the distance. Natick’s road to the final included five-set victories against Xaverian in the opening round and defending state champion Framingham in the semifinals.

“When we beat Xaverian, we said, ‘Oh, we can do it,’ ” Suxho said. “Framingham was a big challenge for us, but that gave us a chance to fight for a trophy and today we just thought, ‘ Hey, why not?’ ”

Junior captains Matthew Flaherty and Maxwell Waltzman each struck for a match-high 20 kills. The heavy hitters were set up all night by sophomore Brett Olsen, who racked up 28 assists in the win.

“We fight,” said Waltzman. “Natick fights, for every point and every play.”

Said Flaherty: “It’s our third five-set (match), so we were ready for this, we just knew we had to finish the job.”

Natick faces West champion Westfield on Monday night at Holyoke Community College.