By Brad Spiegel
brad.spiegel@waylandpost.org
BILLERICA – Heading into Saturday’s Division 2 state girls volleyball state championship, Wayland High School’s players and coaches alike felt they deserved to share the court with the top-seeded and undefeated Oliver Ames Tigers, despite the disparity in records and seeding.
And after winning the first two sets in the best-of-five format, everyone in attendance could imagine the Warriors taking home the first championship in the sport in school history.
Unfortunately, the miscues that OA had been making in the opening two sets were being corrected. Wayland’s mostly mistake-free play disappeared when OA turned up the pressure, giving the Tigers many free balls to set up their offense. And the result was a 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-14, 15-11) loss for the seventh-seeded Warriors.
Despite the heart-wrenching defeat, the 2025 Warriors – who moved up a division this year – achieved a milestone by reaching the state championship match. It was the fourth straight year the program improved, following a first-ever home tournament game in 2022, reaching the quarterfinals in 2023, and advancing to the semifinals last year.
“I’m really proud of the team, and even though we didn’t win at all we made it this far,” said a teary-eyed Anna Yalli minutes after the final kill by OA’s Chelsea Wagner hit the Billerica Memorial High School floor on Wayland’s side of the net. “No one expected it. I especially didn’t expect it. We made program history. So I’m just so proud of everyone. I’m so glad I was able to play in the championship in my senior year.”
Yalli has been part of all four of those seasons, moving up to varsity at the end of her freshman season and being a major contributor the last three years. It was quite a way to cap her career, along with fellow seniors Mia MacLean, Stephanie Shen, Kalena Imura, Jubin Kim, and Emiko Niimi,
“Every year we’ve made it further and further into the tournament and I think that the seniors making it this far has been such an accomplishment,” Yalli said. “To be a part of the growth of Wayland volleyball, it’s been really awesome.”
Coach Lisa Tsaur pointed to the team’s resiliency as a big factor for the Warriors advancing as far as they did.
“This team has a lot of resolve and determination,” she said. “They believe in each other and themselves individually. I don’t think any one of us dreamed that we would have a chance to play in this match. They really just focused on one match at a time this entire season and into the tournament.”
The Warriors (15-8) – who were riding a seven-game winning streak that spanned the end of the season and the first four matches of the tournament – jumped out to a 2-0 lead in sets behind Yalli’s all-around play, Willa Suratt’s defense, Imura’s steady setting, and strong net play by Audrey Nugent.
But Oliver Ames gained the momentum in the middle of the third set when it turned a one-point lead into a comfortable six-point edge, 22-16. Uncharacteristic mistakes by Wayland, including an easy dink that hit the net and letting a serve drop in the back corner for an ace, contributed to the run.
That surge continued at the start of the fourth set when the Tigers (25-0) raced to a 7-0 lead thanks to a couple of double-hits and free ball opportunities for OA.
“Oliver Ames did a good job applying pressure,” Tsaur explained. “I think sometimes, you know, when you’re up, there’s maybe a little less attention to detail. And being in that moment I think we were still aggressive, which was excellent, but by being aggressive we made awesome offensive mistakes, and that kind of added up in a way, and it gave the other team some confidence.”
OA never trailed in the final set. Wayland battled back to get to within three points at 13-10 and 14-11 but Wagner and Taylor Donahue, who were on point at the net most of the match, closed the door for OA, which lost in the Division 2 state championship last season.
“Oliver Ames is the number one seed, so they are a very strong team,” Yalli said. “I think they finally connected (in the final three sets) and were able to put some balls down (on the floor) on us.”
