By Andy Hutchison

FAIRFIELD — What a turnaround it’s been for the Staples High boys volleyball team which, on Tuesday night, secured a state playoff berth with its eighth win.

A year removed from winning just three times, the squad — comprising mostly juniors, sophomores and freshmen — has found a  winning touch.

“It’s a wonderful improvement from last year. I think the experience we gained last year is really showing this year and I’m really proud of the guys,” Coach John Sedlock said.

There were no seniors on the team last year, which gave all the players a chance to sharpen skills while looking ahead to this spring.

“That experience is helping us this year. We’re having fun and doing great,” said Brian Divino, the team’s setter.

The Wreckers clinched the playoff berth with a come-from-behind 3-2 win at Fairfield Ludlowe. They trailed, one game to none and two games to one, before forcing a decisive fifth set. Match scores were 19-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-22 and 15-11.

This marks the third time in as many tries Staples has emerged victorious in a deciding fifth set.

“It just shows we have a lot of heart,” Sedlock said.

With the victory, Staples improved to 8-4 overall and 4-2 in FCIAC play. 

They achieved this success despite battling injuries. Sedlock has had to change his lineup at times, most notably in the Ludlowe match, with several players moved around on the court and out of natural positions.

“They never gave up and they played as hard as they possibly could,” the coach said.

Middle hitters Will Stoutenburg and Mason Siskind came up big at the net with important blocks and kills. Stoutenburg had his best game this year, with eight blocks, Sedlock said.

Sawyer Makl logged 16 kills, Pierce Brown had 11 kills, Divino 18 digs to go along with 26 assists, and Anthony Cheung recorded nine digs.

In the fourth set, Staples appeared well on its way to forcing the fifth game, establishing a 20-11 lead. Ludlowe clawed to within 22-21 but the Wreckers fended off their counterparts.

A key cross-court kill by Brown pushed the Staples lead to 23-21. After a net violation made it a three-point game, Ludlowe extended the set one more point before Makl closed things out with a kill.

In game five, things were back and forth most of the time with Siskind, Makl, Stoutenburg and Divino coming up with key points. With the set tied 7-7 Staples seized the lead and added to it on consecutive Brown kills.

Ludlowe answered and evened things at 10 when Brown again broke the tie. The go-ahead kill was set up by a pretty reverse set from Divino.

Again Ludlowe tied things, but Brown had the response with a kill for a 12-11 Wrecker advantage and Staples closed out with the last four points, capped off by Stoutenburg’s block/point at the net.

Staples will host Stamford at 4 p.m. Thursday and Trumbull at 11 a.m. Saturday.

“All these FCIAC games are paramount. They’re must win,” said Sedlock, whose squad has seven games remaining, all against conference foes, as the Wreckers look to bolster FCIAC and state playoff positioning.

(Game schedules are subject to change; click for the latest updates.) 

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.