NATICK — With a wealth of premier returners, the Natick boys volleyball team looks loaded for a run at the Div. 1 state title this year.

But for now, Needham is still the top dog.

In a Bay State Conference battle between serious contenders Thursday night, the Rockets rallied past a slow start to grind out a 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-19, 26-24) win over the RedHawks for the program’s 76th straight victory.

Devin Dellamarggio dished out 50 assists in rock-fight of a comeback, mostly feeding Luke Lorence (21 kills) and Brian Cloonan (15 kills) to navigate through some challenging moments.

Harrison Landry (38 assists, five kills), Branch Barnes (22 kills) and Matt Salerno (eight kills) gave Needham a handful to withstand, helping Natick take the first set to truly threaten a historic win streak. But a complete defensive performance and big-time stats from the Rockets’ go-to guys ripped off three unanswered set wins to pull out another signature victory early in the season.

“Listen, we know this thing – the streak has been crazy,” said Needham head coach Dave Powell. “When we look back on it, it’s going to be crazy the way a bunch of high school kids could keep stepping up in big moments, in close matches. It’s crazy it’s gone this long. We know it’s not going to last forever, we’re totally cognizant of that and we’re ready for that moment. But we’re going to enjoy this one one more day because to go on the road and win in a pretty tough atmosphere says a lot about our kids.”

“It’s just a testament to our culture,” added Lorence. “We know that we can, so we just went out there and we did it. We knew that we had the options. The back row guys, the front row guys – everyone was making plays. Every big moment, we stepped up. We knew that they were going to be good. We made it work. … It feels great.”

The Rockets didn’t do themselves any favors with a bevy of errors in the first set, pairing with some explosive hitting from Barnes, Salerno and Nicholas Bonavire (seven kills) to start the frame with a 10-4 deficit. Needham rallied a bit to ultimately pull within 19-16, but Natick’s 6-2 run to close the first left the Rockets in need of a strong second.

All-around, they got it.

Dellamarggio had 13 assists in the frame, connecting with Cloonan, Lorence, Jeremy Bullard-Smith and Avery Kalish to build a 17-12 lead and gain control of the match’s momentum. Once Needham took the set 25-19, it looked a lot more comfortable the rest of the way.

Getting to that point wasn’t easy in a second set filled with long rallies. But a charged effort from the back row saved a handful of points to ultimately flip the script.

“Guys like Ben Vu, Owen Ching and Dylan Carroll – it’ll show up in the stat sheet as digs but you forget it in the midst of a long rally what happened to prolong it,” Powell said. “Those guys did really well today.”

Both groups challenged one another quite a bit at the net, as each often had to hammer multiple hits to finally secure a kill. The tension and energy in front of a packed crowd rose with every one.

The Barnes and Landry connection was potent and couldn’t be stopped for more than a few rallies at a time. Dellamarggio just happened to find more success with his weapons – each having big moments in different sets.

Cloonan had four kills in the second set. Down as much as 15-9 in the fourth, Needham also got four straight kills from him in the middle of a big comeback to secure the match. Lorence had six kills in that set comeback and had eight kills with two blocks in a 25-19 third set. Andrew Kurdziel had three of his seven kills in the third as well.

Both Cloonan and Lorence were also called upon down 21-18 in the fourth, combining for four kills and a block to force a 24-24 tie and win, 26-24.

“It was just confidence,” Lorence said. “Powell was telling us, ‘Just keep going up, hitting.’ … It was just all our coaches, all our guys keeping our heads up.”

Needham players react to a point scored at Natick on Thursday night. Needham won a hard-fought battle, 3-1. (Photo by Reba Saldanha/Boston Herald)