MALDEN HIGH SPORTS: Tornado Boys Volleyball wins seesaw battle in season opener, 3-2

‘Lyncolln the Libero’ Silva, Israel DeSouza and Ethan Hguyen lead way over visiting North Quincy

By Steve Freker

A cliffhanger? For sure!

But Malden High’s boys volleyball team proved to be the better mountaineers on this day. In an often too-close-to-call, seesaw battle with visiting North Quincy, Malden used a team effort to both get sparked-up play when they needed it and decisive match points when there was no other option, earning a well-deserved, season-opening 3-2 victory on Wednesday, April 1.

Head Coach Dan Jurkowski’s Tornados won again on Friday, April 3 over Georgetown, sweeping the Royals, 3-0, on the road to improve to 2-0.

Wednesday’s game was Malden’s regular season opener after a brief preseason with just one scrimmage match. The North Quincy Raiders were on their third game of the season and showed it by racing out to a big lead in the first set. Malden rallied back, however, closing out with six straight points for a 25-22 win. Then the seesaw began.

North Quincy took the second set to tie it up at 1-1. Malden answered, reigning in Set 3 for a 2-1 lead. Once again, the visitors answered with a close 25-21 victory in Set 4. Right down to the wire in the deciding fifth and final set, Malden prevailed for the match victory before a cheering crowd.

It was a team win for the day, but several Tornados had exceptional play, starting with senior libero Lynkolln Silva. “[Silva] played very well, leading us when we needed it in some tight spots and just playing very consistently,” said longtime MHS Head Coach Dan Jurkowski, who founded the program 10 years ago. Outside hitter Israel DeSouza and setter Ethan Nguyen also played very well for Malden in the win.

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Gigantic road trip, then ‘home sweet home’ for 7 games

Malden opened its Greater Boston League schedule on the road Monday at Chelsea and then stayed on the road Wednesday, April 8, at Lynn Classical (GBL match) and Thursday at Waltham vs. the Waltham/Weston co-op team.

A gigantic road trip continues for Malden next week, with a pair of key GBL matchups: at Revere, Monday, April 13 and at Medford, Wednesday, April 15, both of them 5:30 p.m. times. Remarkably enough, the schedule then shifts to SEVEN straight home matches, carrying the Tornados right into mid-May.