Westborough sweeps to Div. 2 state championship

WORCESTER >> The topseeded Westborough Rangers volleyball team swept Hockomock League juggernaut King Philip, 3-0 (25-19; 25-21; 25-23), to capture the Div. 2 state title Saturday at Worcester State.

Westborough (21-0) finishes the season undefeated after losing in the state finals in 2021 to Hopkinton in four sets. Head coach Roger Anderson did not shy away from the fact that the loss was fuel for his team this season.

“This is both relief and joy as we learned a ton from that experience. All the things we did this year to prepare was targeting this moment having been there before,” said Anderson. “I think we stood on the shoulders of that (2021) team as well to get to where we are.”

The first set is always the most important for momentum in volleyball and with the score tied 1111, the Rangers pulled off a 9-2 run to put things away relatively easily in the 2519 win.

The second and third sets were much more competitive on both sides of the net, but in the end, it was the Westborough defense limiting the Warriors’

big up-front senior hitters Ahunna James (seven kills; nine digs) and Emily Sawyer from big runs of their own.

“We were so close yet so far. We felt like we didn’t really take charge of any sets as we went along,” said King Philip head coach, Kristen Guess. “But we stayed in it, we hung in there, but kudos to Westborough as they are a great team.”

No. 2 King Philip (22-3) led by four 13-9 with side out in game three and looked solid in making things interesting, but the veteran leadership of junior Quinn Anderson (15 kills) and senior Shannon

Clark (28 assists) helped steer the ship for the Rangers en route to the program’s third state title, first since 2017, in only the sixth trip to the finals dance for Westborough.

“We knew they were really big, and their offense was awesome when they were in system so our whole job was to try and get them uncomfortable and we felt like we could match up because we are a pretty good blocking team,” said Anderson. “Once we slowed things down it put a lot more pressure on them and Quinn played really good down the stretch. I’m so proud of her.”