The one-liners were flowing.

It’s a Wednesday afternoon practice. New Lexington boys volleyball head coach Marc Turiano is on the sideline as his players run a drill, answering questions about his first year leading the way after spending the last four as an assistant for the Minutemen.

A brief pause met each question, and his responses were tranquil. Not monotone or robotic, just patient and thought-out. Turiano flashed plenty of smiles, but none bigger than when he couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the quips coming from about 50 feet to his right.

Over those 20 minutes, retired former head coach Jane Bergin – who now assists the program she founded in 2010 – dropped several zingers during the drill, and the ensuing sprints, to light a fire under the boys. For a couple of them, even some players couldn’t help but smirk.

She coaches with energy, passion and a high volume – a style that helped a newer program quickly develop into a contender with a couple of Div. 1 state quarterfinal appearances. Turiano, with many years of experience as an assistant (St. John’s Prep, Lexington) and head coach (Salem State, Regis College), brings something different.

And since dropping a 3-2 thriller to Div. 2 power Wayland in the season opener, Lexington’s (8-1) eight-game win streak – without dropping a set – shows part of how well it works.

“(Turiano) brings what feels like a new generation of volleyball,” said senior outside hitter Nadav Vachtel. “Something that I really like from him is he preaches what he calls ‘even keel.’ It’s what he says all the time. It’s not either sunshine and rainbows, or thunder and lightning. You have to be in the middle so that emotion doesn’t play a huge role.”

It’s importance is something Turiano picked up on since he started coaching in 2009, and what he’s learned through his five years as boys director of the Mill City Volleyball Club.

Programs like Needham and Newton North, which have won the last four Div. 1 state titles, are noted for their composure during times of adversity or urgency.

“The teams that have high highs and low lows never seem to maximize their potential,” Turiano said. “Teams that can maintain an even keel no matter what the situation are the teams that are able to go on a deep tournament run. Some of it is detaching emotion from the result. … Hopefully it allows us to not get stuck in ruts, never be too high, never be too low – just be consistent.”

At first, Lexington didn’t quite show it off. Senior outside hitters Vachtel and Alessandro Luciani helped take a 2-1 lead over Wayland, but the Warriors stormed back in a true thriller (25-21, 26-28, 23-25, 25-19, 18-16).

What followed for the Minutemen were 3-0 wins over nonleague foes St. John’s Shrewsbury and Lincoln-Sudbury, and a perfect mark in Middlesex League play over Woburn, Arlington, Wakefield, Winchester, Belmont and Burlington.

Winchester has long been the thorn in the Minutemen’s side whenever the two play, so it was notable for them to rally from big deficits in the second and third sets to take the driver’s seat in the league title race.

“If we are down or if we are struggling, we’re able to find a way through that,” Turiano said. “If we can narrow our focus, that helps.”

“I think since (the loss), we’ve taken kind of more of the even keel message,” Vachtel added. “When (sets) get close, we calm down, shake off mistakes, loosen up.”

Both Vachtel and Turiano believe this is the deepest Lexington has been since at least 2021.

The Minutemen are strongest at the pins through Vachtel, Luciani, junior Nic Sanchez de Rojas and junior Adam Mann. All four are strong with their serve-receive, which is something Turiano emphasizes every day at practice. Junior Jacob Wall and sophomore Josh Choi have stepped up to solidify the libero position – which needed a big improvement from last year. And a two-setter, modified 5-1 system has Jake Seigal setting the back row while Mahin Rajesh sets for the front, both working on their distribution to maximize a well-rounded attack.

Much of all their success thus far, though, is a credit to the entire 18-player roster.

“I think every single person here could switch out another person on the court and play a game and be fine,” Vachtel said. “The reason that’s so great is that practices are so competitive. … You need to earn your spot.”

Lexington is motivated to take back the Middlesex League title from Winchester, as Vachtel says it “hurts” to not have 2024 on the team’s banner in the gym, next to 2022 and 2023. Turiano believes it’s theirs to lose. Vachtel also aims for the Minutemen to do something they’ve never done before, which is advance past the state quarterfinals. He believes they can do it.

Part of that comes from a seamless transition for Turiano in taking over the lead role. And he’s appreciative to do it with Bergin by his side.

“Having her knowledge base, having her vitality in the gym – you couldn’t ask for a better person to have helping out with the program,” he said.

More expansion

Boys volleyball welcomes two new leagues traditionally successful across other sports.

Milford enjoyed the spoils of a tough, independent schedule last year, but head coach Andrew Mainini expressed excitement for the community aspect of a brand-new Hockomock League – featuring the Scarlett Hawks, King Philip, Taunton and Attleboro.

East of them, the Southern Alliance may have disbanded, but that’s mostly because the Patriot League formed. Quincy and North Quincy are joined by recently founded programs at Hingham, Scituate and Silver Lake.

First-year programs at Westwood and Hopkinton add to a competitive Tri-Valley League as well.

Streaking St. John’s

St. John’s of Shrewsbury head coach Dan Seaver acknowledged in the preseason that his group returned a core talented enough to make some noise – the Pioneers just needed to piece everything together.

We’re starting to see it come to form despite a revolving door of injuries and illnesses.

Since starting the year 0-3 with three sweeps, No. 11 St. John’s has won five straight. That includes wins over No. 12 St. John’s Prep and No. 16 BC High, and it just beat No. 7 Wayland in five sets on the road Thursday night.

There’s still much to be seen how it handles the cream of Div. 1 in No. 4 Natick (Tuesday) and No. 3 Needham (Thursday) this week, but there’s a lot to feel good about right now.