Girls Volleyball Sweep Plymouth North in First Round of Tournament
November 6, 2026
• The Rockets will face rival Wellesley in the next round of the playoffs.
Needham girls volleyball started the postseason strong with a sweep of Plymouth North (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) in the first round, behind a dominant performance from sophomores Daniela Hatziiliades and Gabriella Kuper.
Hatziiliades and Kuper combined for 24 kills, while the rest of the team totaled 18. The win snapped a tough stretch for the Rockets, who were 1-4 in their last five games heading into the playoffs.
“Coming into this season, we knew that maybe other teams would doubt us because our team was so young, and we all just really wanted to prove literally everybody wrong,” said junior Sloane Seidman following the win.
Plymouth North scored six points in a row in the first set to take an 11-9 lead, which held until Kuper tied the game at 19. After the Blue Eagles called a timeout, Needham took the lead with a block from Seidman. The Rockets outscored Plymouth North 5-2 from there, taking the first set 25-21, with the final point coming from a kill by Hatziiliades.
Down 1-0 in the match, the Blue Eagles jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second set. Despite being down five, 15-10, Needham went on a 8-3 run, tying the game at 18, similar to their comeback in the first set. Hatziiliades went on an incredible serving run as a part of that stretch, picking up eight straight points, five of which were aces. Tu finished the set off, 25-22, with a kill on a setter dump to put the Rockets up 2-0.
“We gave them a few points here and there, but we realized ‘this is our gym, we have to defend our gym, especially since its our last home game’,” Tu said on Needham’s mindset during the game.
The trend continued in the third set, with Needham going down big, 12-3, their largest deficit of the night. After a timeout by Rockets head coach Courtney Todesco, Needham went on a 4-1 run to get closer. As the set progressed it seemed like a fourth set was on the horizon, with Plymouth North leading 23-18 late. But, just as they had done in the previous two sets, the Rockets battled back, tying the set at 23. Hatziiliades pushed the game to match point with a kill on the left side, before junior Iris Zhang sealed the win for Needham with an ace.
Hatziiliades collected five aces to go along with her 15 kills, while three Rockets added two aces: Lilian Soulia, Seidman and Zhang. Seidman also had nine kills for Needham.
The Rockets will face rival Wellesley in the next round on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 4:30 p.m. at Wellesley High School. The Raiders, ranked eighth in division one, lost to Needham earlier this season in a five-set thriller, setting up an exciting rematch. Wellesley swept No. 25 Attleboro in its first round matchup. The full division one bracket, which is regularly updated with results and match times, can be found here.
“We bring the same energy everywhere, so I feel like we’ll do great there too,” said Kuper on being on the road for their next game. “We’re so excited, it’s our whole mindset just to beat them,” added Tu.
