Boys volleyball captures sixth title

Exeter boys varsity volleyball capped an 8-0 season with the sixth New England championship in program history following a 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-16) victory over Andover in Saturday’s final. Big Red advanced to the final following a 3-0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-17) win over Northfield Mount Hermon in the semifinal round.

“The team played their best on a day that counted most,” said head coach Bruce Shang. “This season we really focused on rebuilding our culture, attitude, and skills. We were lucky to have great senior leadership, coaches, and managers to help progress our team throughout the year. By the end of the season, we were ready mentally and physically to battle Andover in the finals and capture a championship.”

Big Red opened up a 22-13 edge in the opening set before Andover put together a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to just two, 24-22. A Tristan Zhang ’25 slam from the middle concluded the first set 25-22 and put Big Red up 1-0. Big Red clung to a 17-16 lead in the second before stringing together eight of the next nine points to stake a 2-0 match lead. Exeter never trailed in the third set, getting out to a 3-0 lead behind the serve of Devon Coole ’24. Big Red maintained a steady edge and built a 17-14 lead and put together an 8-2 run to close out the match 3-0.

This marked the second win over Andover this spring. Big Red dropped the opening two sets 24-26, 17-25 before roaring back to sweep the final three sets 25-20, 25-22, 15-13 in the regular-season matchup in Andover.

Olisa Nwogugu ’24 helped lead the way for Big Red in the finals, as he connected for 14 kills on a .609 hitting percentage, while also accounting for 2.5 blocks and a pair of aces. Bodie Woods ’25 added 10 kills while Nicholas Lin ’24 set up the offense with 29 assists. On the defensive side, Cam Khater ’25 finished with 11 digs; Devon Coole ’24 added five digs to go along with a pair of kills.

“I am very proud of captains Olisa and Nick for leading their team with energy and offense,” said Shang. “Cam led our defense at the libero position, and Bodie was a big contributor with his serving and offense.”

Big Red was dominant all season long, dropping only six sets through the regular season and playoffs. Exeter has maintained a high bar of success, registering an astounding 76-10 record over the past eight seasons.

“I am very thankful for this program and all the wonderful people that make boys volleyball so successful," Shang said. "From Lissa Frankland and the athletic trainers for taking care of our athletes to our strength and conditioning coach Shaun Fishel for making sure the athletes were strong and less prone to injury. Our wonderful assistant coaches Sophia Scola and Sue Rowe — Coach Scola who trained the liberos, blocking, and defense and Coach Rowe who takes care of serving, serve receive, setters as well as helping us train to have fun and compete at the same time.”