By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern volleyball squad used the ‘one point at a time’ method to eventually pick off Avon, 3-2, in a Central Connecticut Conference, Region B Postseason Playoff experience bout from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol on Monday.

Game scores were 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-7, and 15-13 as the home team lost the first two games.

Early gaffs and miscues doomed the home team over its first two-to-three sets but once the Lancers (12-0) started playing Eastern brand volleyball, Avon (8-5) and that 2-0 hole eventually melted away.

“The girls really regrouped and did what they needed to do,” said Eastern coach Stefanie Reay. “When they start playing really as a team, especially in the fourth set, they played like they know how they’re capable of playing.”

Bristol led nearly wire-to-wire in set three, nabbed a double-figure cushion midway through the fourth tilt, and simply made all the big plays late in a back-and-forth fifth and final game.

And nearly the entire Eastern team got involved in match play.

Zoe Lowe (24 kills, 17 digs, 2 assists) dominated at the net, Ryley Plourde (10 kills, 6 aces, 3 blocks, 2 digs) added something to the till as well, while Leah Chipman (5 aces, 2 blocks, 6 digs, 48 assists) was extremely efficient in another all-around effort for the Lancers.

And the duo of Lauren Bender (6 kills, 8 digs) and Emma Rodjenski (6 kills, 2 aces, 2 blocks, 2 digs) made a huge contribution to the winning endeavor.

Hannah Webber (8 kills, 3 aces, 8 blocks, 4 digs) and Alex Shorette (5 digs) also made key contributions to the BE effort.

Lucy Winiarski brought her usual brand of defense, while Amber Champagne, Hannah Podolak, and Alyssa Adorno all saw action Monday night.

The Lancers, eventually shaking off those early mistakes, had to play the match without senior Sage Scarritt, and her energy and ability was sorely missed. 

“I knew that we had to fight even harder because we didn’t have Sage,” said Plourde. “She has such a large impact with her energy. She has such great energy on the court and we really had to make up for that too, not just skill wise. She’s a leader on the court and she’s always talking and she always has a good energy. I knew that she would be cheering me on and to keep swinging for it no matter what.”

“We really missed her tonight but we wanted to [win] it for her especially because I know she wanted more than anything to be here. I knew if she was next to me, she would tell me to shake it off and keep going.”

The showdown was a challenge from the onset as Avon’s defense was on-point and, when Eastern threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Falcons, the squad bumped up the ball from loud Lancer kill attempts and managed to toss it back over the net for kills.

“They were fantastic defensively,” said Reay of Avon. “Their libero [Wren Worth] was everywhere.”

Kelli Raines led the Falcons with nine kills, 18 digs, and four aces, while Worth’s serving (six aces) and digging (20) was critical throughout the match.

Eliza Jones blocked three shots at the net and Jocelyn Powers added 15 digs and collected 23 assists.

In set one, Avon led 8-3, but on an ace by Plourde that skipped off the net and fell onto the Avon side of the floor, it was an 11-11 stalemate.

But when Jones eventually rejected a shot that led to an eventual point, the Falcons nabbed a 21-14 edge and even with a 23-18 deficit looming on the scoreboard, Eastern made its run.

A 5-0 jaunt knotted the contest at 23-23 – highlighted by two kills from Lowe – but a bad Lancers’ serve was coupled by a Raines hit that was not returned as Avon won set one by two, 25-23.

In the second game, Eastern trailed 8-1 off the bat as the Falcons – leading wire-to-wire – took advantage of Eastern errors, including seven bad serves.

But Lowe sprang to life and on some loud kills, the Lancers chopped the deficit to two on four different occasions but could never draw even.

It was 22-20 when two bad Lancers’ serves and an Eastern ball was blasted into the net and via the errors, it propelled the Falcons to a 25-21 second set win and an imposing 2-0 lead in the match.

The third game was tight throughout but Rodjenski made a loud hit at the net that wasn’t returned and when Bender blasted in a huge kill from the middle of the floor – coupled with a lofting Lowe tally – it was a 20-15 lead in Eastern’s favor.

“She did a fantastic job,” said Reay of Bender. “And she stepped in there in a couple big matches for us before so it’s no surprise. She’s a little young and inexperienced so there’s a little bit of nerves there but she really got much more comfortable in the later games as well and did a nice job.”

Avon trimmed the deficit to three late but Lowe kicked in a kill from the left, Chipman flashed in an ace, and when Webber blocked a shot that produced a point from the middle, it closed the set with Eastern tallying a 25-19 victory – slicing the deficit to 2-1.

Plourde and Lowe helped the Lancers to a fast and furious start in the fourth set with Avon immediately put on its collective heals.

Plourde zipped in early kills, Lowe followed up with another, and when Plourde put down serves that were not returned, that play led to a 7-0 burst and a 9-3 lead for the home squad.

Avon was never able to recover.

Serve-received failed the Falcons when two Chipman aces landed on the court as her second untouched serve sent the Lancers to a 16-4 cushion.

The Falcons got no closer than 10 the rest of the way with Rodjenski dropping in a kill and Webber tallying three aces. Her final ace capped an 8-0 run to give Eastern a 25-7 win in the fourth game – forcing a winner-take-all fifth and final set.

“The third set was still a little bit shaky,” said Reay. “The fourth set, they were more back into their groove.”

And in the fifth set alone, six lead changes and nine ties highlighted the nip-and-tuck affair.

Neither team led by more than two points for most of the set but at 12-12, the Lancers finally went over the top.

Plourde nabbed a tip-kill, Chipman appeared to have blocked a shot, and off one final free ball, Plourde blasted a kill from the right side of the floor, propelling the Lancers to a 15-12 set win and a 3-2 match victory.

“There are certain things we can control and there are things that we can’t control,” said Reay. “When we’re making the mistakes, we can control that, and the girls realized that, and that’s when they know that a change in mentality is going to be the change in the game.

NOTES…Zoe Lowe was recently named to the AVCA high school All-Region Team for Region 1. That region consists of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and New York…Coming into the match against Avon, Eastern had lost just four sets all season long.

Postseason Experience – Volleyball, Region B

BRISTOL EASTERN 3, AVON 2

Game Scores: 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-7, 15-13

Lead Changes: 8

Ties: 20

Highlights – Avon: Kelli Raines, 9 kills, 18 digs, 4 aces; Wren Worth, 6 aces, 20 digs; Eliza Jones, 3 blocks; Jocelyn Powers; 15 digs; 23 assists. Bristol Eastern: Zoe Lowe, 24 kills, 17 digs, 2 assists; Ryley Plourde, 10 kills, 6 aces, 3 blocks, 2 digs; Lauren Bender, 6 kills, 8 digs; Emma Rodjenski, 6 kills, 2 aces, 2 blocks, 2 digs; Hannah Webber, 8 kills, 3 aces, 8 blocks, 4 digs; Leah Chipman, 5 aces, 2 blocks, 6 digs, 48 assists; Alex Shorette, 5 digs.

Records: Bristol Eastern 12-0 overall; Avon 8-5