Saugus volleyball snaps West Ranch 64-game win streak  

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Saugus Centurions boys’ volleyball ended West Ranch’s 64-game win streak spanning since 2015 on Thursday.  

Saugus won the match at home in straight sets, 27-25, 25-16, 25-22. 

The win also marked first-year head coach Kaitlyn Reiner’s first career Foothill League win on an eventful Tuesday night at Saugus (2-4, 1-1). 

“It felt really good, especially as my first head coaching win in the Foothill League and breaking their streak,” Reiner said in a phone interview. “It was one of those moments you just have to take in.” 

Senior Taylor Phipps led the Centurions with 11 kills, with a .250 hitting percentage.  

Nicholas Ciccone also added eight kills for Saugus, while Noah Motherspaw finished with seven. Ciccone also led the team with 14 digs. 

The Wildcats were led by sophomore Noah Douphner, who slammed down a match-high 21 kills. 

The first set was tight. Seemingly every time one team scored or went on a run, the opposing team followed. The game went into extra points before a Wildcats’ hitting error ended the game. 

Saugus’ confidence rocketed and the team took over the match from there, winning the second comfortably.  

“Our confidence just went up,” Reiner said. “I think the guys realized we were capable of winning the next set. I told them, ‘This is a great team so we have to come back even harder and not underestimate them. Play like the score is 0-0.’ We had to play really hard and we definitely upped our effort.” 

West Ranch pushed back hard in the third set but Saugus held off the Cats to officially snap the six-year streak in a sweep.  

Reiner believes her guys played with far more confidence than in their 3-1 loss to Valencia on Tuesday, a match where Saugus played trying not to lose rather than win. 

“We definitely had this flow,” Reiner said. “We knew the system we were running and we looked at ease… It was a confidence booster and I think if we play like that, we’ll be a tough team to beat.” 

Saugus will head out on the road on Tuesday for the team’s first match with Hart at 5:30 p.m. West Ranch headed to Burroughs on Friday and returns to league action on Wednesday when the Cats head to Valencia at 5:30 p.m. 

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