Agawam boys volleyball team takes home second state title in program history

AGAWAM, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - On Thursday, Agawam boys’ volleyball won its second state title in program history.

“We knew we had it in us because it was tough the past few years, we didn’t always have the chemistry or whatever it is,” said Daniel Yovenko, a senior. “But this year we just didn’t take no for an answer.”

A new banner will hang at Agawam High School after the boy’s volleyball team clinched its second-ever state championship on Thursday and first since 2013.

“The brownies won in convincing fashion. Sweeping local opponent Westfield in straight sets.”

“No one believed in us that we were gonna win, beat Westfield, and then we came out and we just swept them 3-0,” said Daniel Ronchkevich, a senior.

Head coach Kevin Pender was on the sidelines as an assistant one decade ago.

Western Mass News asked what it took to get this team back 10 years later.

“Mistakes,” said Coach Kevin Pender. “Growing in the gym and growing as a coach. It’s really training in chaos and ugly practices that make us look really prepared and ready.”

He told us depth and flexibility helped his roster fire on all cylinders.

For the players who assembled a 22-2 record this season, there was no doubt from day one.

“We just played our brand of volleyball, showed them who Agawam was and we came out swinging,” added Ezekiel Nguessan, a junior.

Through the senior leadership of Daniel Yovenko who recorded 1,000 career kills everyone challenged each other.

“I wanted everybody to feel welcome to say something, to cheer us on, kind of push us forward,” expressed Yovenko.

With a strong sophomore core, there’s reason to believe that the brownies will be back in this position again.

“We’ve got David coming back, we got Ben coming back, we have Eric coming back,” said Fronchevich. “I’m not really worried about next year”

As they are continuing to put western Mass. on the map across the state.

“It’s grown a lot in this area looking at the D2 bracket, lot of west representation,” said Pender. “We’re really proud of that.”