ATTLEBORO, Mass. – It has been a remarkable season for the Attleboro volleyball program. The Bombardiers opened their new gym by winning 16 games in the regular season, one of the best records in program history, and won a share of its first Kelley-Rex division title. On Thursday night, Attleboro added a couple more milestones to this fall to remember.
The seventh-seeded Bombardiers had little trouble sweeping No. 26 seed Westford Academy 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-17) to record their first playoff win in over a decade. During the victory, junior captain Natalie Brojek celebrated a personal accomplishment when she dished out her 1,000th career assist.
“She’s only a junior but I don’t know what I’m going to do without her,” said Attleboro coach Mary Katherine Runey. “It’s so much more than the assists. She is everything and so much more because she knows when to focus and she knows how to be a leader. Without her leadership this year, I don’t know that we could have been as successful.”
After the match, Brojek said, “It’s such a big accomplishment to me, especially since I got it as a junior, but it really means just running my offense. Numbers and stats can be important but what means most to me is playing with Attleboro, playing with my team. I love setting. I love this team.”
While Attleboro knew that it was a significant favorite coming into the playoff opener, and that it had faced some of the state’s best to win the league title, there is a different energy level in the tournament, especially for a team that had so few players who experienced it before.
Getting off to a good start to the match was critical and Attleboro did just that, jumping out to an 8-1 lead. Ellie Shelton and Addison Shelton (seven kills) helped the Bombardiers take the early lead in the set with strong service games. An ace from Ellie Shelton made it 13-3. Brojek showed off her all-around game, diving forward to dig a Westford hit and set up Julia Leonardo for a kill that increased the lead to 15-5.
“We love to drop a first set,” Runey joked when asked about the importance of starting quickly to not give the underdogs any momentum. “I kept emphasizing how important it was to come out strong. We can’t alter the way that we play dependent on who’s on the other end. I’m really happy that we were able to stay consistent and then also celebrate [Natalie] tonight.”
Leonardo smacked one off the block and Addison Shelton followed with a kill of her own. After back-to-back Westford points, Brojek took matters into her own hands with a kill. Ellie Shelton (six aces) added a kill and an ace and Leonardo fired in another spike to put Attleboro on the brink of a lead in the match. Brojek finished off the first set with a push shot that dropped into the middle of the Westford defense.
After a dominant opening set, Attleboro had a let-off at the start of the second. The Grey Ghosts were able to pull ahead early. Leonardo got into the swing with back-to-back points to even things at five apiece and then snuck an ace inside the back line for a 7-6 lead. Attleboro’s lead was as much as six (17-11), but Westford kept coming back.
The Ghosts went on an 8-1 run and regained the lead at 19-18. Middle hitter Alanna Sanders was giving the Bombardiers issues and Katherine Crane was finding space on the outside. Ellie Shelton pulled Attleboro level with a block for a point and then delivered an ace to restore the lead.
Attleboro would win the final five points of the second to put themselves in control of the match. Tigin Bombardier had a crucial block for a point and Leonardo (14 kills) caught fire with three kills over those final five points, including strong swings on the last two points.
“We’ve been trying to focus when we allow a team to get two or three points, I want them to have that volleyball IQ to know what to address, what can we on the court fix, prioritize a side out, and put the ball back on our side,” Runey said.
Brojek went into the final set needing just one more assist to reach 1,000. She made it quick, delivering a pass to Ellie Shelton for the milestone assist.
Leonardo was proving to be too much for the Westford defense. She had three more kills at the start of the set, helping the Bombardiers push out to a 7-2 lead, then three more as Attleboro made it 10-5. Westford got back within three at 13-10 but it would be as close as the Ghosts would get in the third.
Brojek (28 assists) fired in a pair of aces, then Leonardo had consecutive kills and it was 19-13. Two aces from Julia Mondiello and more strong defense from libero Sadie Whitmarsh kept Westford out of reach, as Attleboro cruised into the next round.
“Walking in, I was a little bit nervous,” Brojek explained. “It was definitely a different level of energy, especially knowing we have something to prove. We’ve already proven that we could make the playoffs, so making it farther and beating more and more teams was really important to us. I’m so excited for the next game.”
Runey admitted, “We needed to get this under our belt. We have shown in practice and in our scrimmage this week that we were showing some nerves. Tonight was not our best performance, we have a lot to fix before we face our next round, but I’m proud of the way that we played.”
Attleboro (17-2) will host the winner of Needham and Boston Latin in the Sweet Sixteen on Monday night.