Semifinal appearance comes after move to top division

By Chris Villani

New division? No problem for the Milford High boys’ volleyball team. After earning spots in the state semifinal game in Division II in each of the past two seasons, the Scarlet Hawks marched to the final four again this spring after being bumped up to Division I.

“I thought we played pretty well in the tournament,” said head coach Andrew Mainini after MHS bowed out against Needham in the semifinal.

Milford knocked off Newton South, Lincoln-Sudbury, and Methuen enroute to the final four. The Scarlet Hawks staged a comeback during the first set of the LS match, and earned sweeps against Newton South and against Methuen in the round of eight.

“We ran into Needham and there is no other way to put it, we didn’t play well as a team and they didn’t really make too many mistakes,” Mainini said. “It was kind of a disappointing end to the season, but it was a great road getting there.”

Alex Guerra continued to lead the MHS attack through the postseason and picked up his 1,000th career kill in the Methuen match.

“One thousand kills is even more rare than scoring 1,000 points in basketball,” Mainini said. “That was a really cool accomplishment for him.”

Arthur Gomes served well for MHS during the playoffs. The Hawks also received a boost from freshman Mayck Moreira.

“He served really well for us in our last two wins and helped us get both of those victories,” his coach said. 

Milford is graduating nine seniors, most of whom were in the starting lineup at some point this season. Mainini is still optimistic for next year.

“It’s a big loss, but we were able to see some of our younger talent get on the court this year and we are excited about that,” he said. “People might not be expecting us to be good next year, but we expect to be good.”

In addition to Moreira, Milford figures to be led by Gus Da Silva next season after he emerged as the second leading attacker on the floor at the end of this spring. Mainini said the program also has young talent and depth at the setter position. The impact made by the class of 2024 will also reverberate, Mainini said, pointing out that this group was the first to play together since 7th grade in the newly-established middle school program. Mainini said their dedication to improving rubbed off on the rest of the team.

“These guys were great leaders, because they modeled high expectations for themselves and for the younger guys,” he said. “They set us up for success for the next couple of years.”