2026 MIAA Spring Volleyball Championships: Brookline Goes Back-to-Back; Wayland Nets First Title

The 2026 MIAA Spring Volleyball Championships took a day longer than planned and a couple of venue changes to complete, but in the end a pair of champions were crowned between Thursday, June 11 and Saturday, June 13.

Brookline High School outlasted Needham High School to win the Division 1 Spring Volleyball championship for a second time.

Division 1

The circumstances didn’t seem to affect Brookline High School and the No. 2 seed Warriors made it back-to-back state championships with a 3-1 victory over top-seeded Needham High School.

Amir Tomer had 20 kills and 3 aces to spark Brookline, which also had beaten Needham by a 3-1 score a year ago and won its third overall state championship in as many tries. Kais Al-Fakhuri (11 kills), Luka Gallucci (7 blocks, 5 kills) and Alec Smagula (40 assists) also had big efforts for the Warriors.

The match originally was scheduled for Friday, June 12 at Newton South High School, but because of an air conditioning malfunction was shifted a bit later that day to Westwood High School. But slippery floor conditions from the high temperatures forced a suspension of the match to a day later, and it was resumed at Hopkinton High School in the second set.

Brookline had won the first set, 25-20, and rallied from a point down to take the second, 25-22, when play resumed. Needham got back into it with a 25-23 win in Set 3, but the Warriors closed things out with a 25-17 victory.

Needham was making its sixth consecutive title match appearance, including three championships in a row from 2021-23.

Wayland High School landed the first Spring Volleyball championship in program history, holding off Westfield High School for the Division 2 crown. 

Division 2

On its fourth attempt overall and third in a row, the time finally was right for Wayland High School.

The top-seeded Warriors took the first two sets and then staved off another comeback attempt by No. 2 seed Westfield High School for a 3-1 victory at Worcester North High School.

Finn Bell finished with 17 kills and 2 blocks for the Warriors. His final kill, a state-record 1,485th of his career, punctuated Wayland’s 25-13 win in the fourth set that closed out the program’s first championship. The win also helped Wayland avenge a 3-1 loss to Westfield during the regular season.

Wayland jumped out to a lead with 25-15 and 25-21 victories. The Warriors were in a similar situation two years ago when the Bombers rallied to win the final three sets, but after taking the third set 25-12, Westfield couldn’t continue the momentum.

Zack O’Donnell (37 assists), Dylan Engelhardt (5 kills, 3 aces) and Alex Pearlman (11 kills, 2 aces) also were solid in the win for Wayland.

Giovanni Gonzalez (10 kills), Andrew Yerak (8 kills, 5 digs) and Max Yurtuc (23 assists, 8 digs) were strong for Westfield, which had won two Division 2 titles in the previous four seasons and is 5-3 all-time.

Printable brackets