Back to the Finals Again as Needham Boys Volleyball Tops Natick

June 10, 2025
• The Rockets dominated all three sets they won, knocking off their conference rivals.

It’s a familiar tune for Needham Boys Volleyball, perhaps you’ve heard it, the Rockets are once again going to the MIAA Division 1 State Championship game. Needham beat Bay State Conference rival Natick, who at #2 were seeded higher than the #3 Rockets. But Head Coach Dave Powell’s team had the edge in experience playing in these big games and that showed as Needham won it 3-1 from Concord-Carlisle High School to return to their 5th straight title game, which will be Friday, June 13th at 6:30pm at Xaverian High School.

Needham started off strong, taking a double digit lead early in the first set 13-2, then led 21-9 down the stretch before taking it 25-14. The second set was more of the same, though Natick played it closer in the early going. Senior Andrew Kurdziel had three kills in the set, then added four more in the third, which the Redhawks would win 25-19.

While Natick had the momentum heading into the 4th set, the Rockets once again took control early. Junior Matthew Cloonan would have seven kills in the fourth as Needham once again rolled by a final of 25-14 to beat their rivals and advance to the final. Kurdziel had three more kills in the fourth, while Will Rozman added four.

The Rockets ended Natick’s nineteen game win streak, which included a 3-0 sweep of Needham back on May 20th. The Redhawks were at home in that game, but not back on April 1st, an early season matchup in which the Rockets hosted and won 3-1. The same result would prove to be the result of the rubber match here, as Needham will try to win their fourth state title in five years.

A year ago the Rockets faced Newton North in the final for the second straight year, after beating them for their third straight title, fourth overall, in 2023. But the Tigers would finally get over the hump of beating Needham. Newton North, ranked #4 this season, and Brookline, the #1 seed, faced off in the second semifinal with the winner to meet the Rockets.

With all four semifinalists coming from the Bay State Conference, this was the first time all four teams in any semi came from the BSC. Up until 2022 there was a sectional tournament that usually featured every Bay State Conference team who qualified for the postseason in one bracket.

Sports anchor Ashleigh Tobin has the highlights from this game below:

The highlights above ran as part of the Needham Channel News, a weekly newscast airing on The Needham Channel every Thursday at 7:30pm. The Needham Channel News can be found on the Community Channel: Comcast 9, Astound 15 and Verizon 29. Most Thursdays it also can be viewed on our HD Channel on Verizon 2129, Astound 613 and streaming on this site.