SPRINGFIELD – The Belchertown boys volleyball team isn’t there yet, but the Orioles aren’t far away.

Belchertown erased multiple double-digit deficits in a 3-1 loss Monday at Putnam playing without its starting libero. Seniors Ty Bogdanovich and Connor White each led the way with five kills.

“We have a really young team, and we’re this close to being good,” Bogdanovich said. “We’ve just got to take that next step and hopefully by the end of the season, we’ll be ready for the playoffs.”

Early mistakes put the Orioles in a hole. They needed time to find their rhythm without libero Cam Buley. Belchertown shifted junior setter Rainer Kristensen and placed sophomore Nicholas Ibekilo in the setter spot. He finished with 11 assists, a kill and an ace.

“It’s a learning on the job process,” Belchertown coach Chris Shea. “you can practice situations, but you really need to be in them. I try to stay positive, I try to treat each point like it's its own game, and try to win that point and then let go of what just happened good or bad, and move on to the next.”

Putnam took a 20-12 lead in the first set before Belchertown rallied back to bring it to 24-23. Kristensen fired a serivce error to tend the set.

He shook it off by the next set. Kristensen, who had four aces, closed the second set with a 10-point service streak that took the Orioles from 21-15 down to a 25-21 win.

“It was exhilarating, especially after I missed that serve at the d of the first set,” Kristensen said. “It felt like redemption.”

The Beavers stabilized with a 25-17 win in Set 3. Belchertown (1-6, 1-2 East) responded with a 12-10 advantage in the fourth set. Putnam tied it at 13 then ripped off a 4-0 run after a blood delay. The Orioles responded with four points in a row of their own to go back up 18-17.

“Every once in a while we’ll have a really good play, then we’ll have a couple errors,” Bogdanovich said. “We just need to keep consistency with our good plays.”

The challenging schedule Belchertown has lined up will only help the Orioles. They’ll see defending state champ Westfield next week and cross over with the likes of Agawam and Minnechaug.

“We’ve been battle tested. We’ve played some of the heavy hitters out there,” Shea said. “We’re used to getting up when we get knocked down.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>