By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – If the Bristol Eastern girls volleyball showdown against Farmington on Thursday night was considered the Central Connecticut Conference, Region B championship match, then the Lancers won the title in a romp.

Outstanding outside hitter Zoe Lowe went over 1,000 kills for her career while Eastern nearly led the match wire-to-wire in the Lancers’ 3-0 sweep of the Indians from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.

Game scores were 25-20, 25-13, and 25-17, and while Eastern probably wanted to square off against crosstown rival Bristol Central to finish the year, Farmington ended up being the Lancers’ final opponent in the wacky time of COVID-19.

The Lancers’ senior core of Lucy Winiarski, Emma Rodjenski, Ryley Plourde, Leah Chipman, and Lowe led the charge – talking it up on the court though all three sets – and left zero doubt about the legitimacy of the unit’s undefeated campaign.

“I think they came out with fire for sure,” said Eastern coach Stefanie Reay. “Having so many seniors and knowing it’s their last game, they knew they had control over how they ended their season and they knew how they wanted to end it and they showed that when they went out there tonight.”

In fact, with the help of fellow senior Sage Scarritt, the Lancers went a combined 32-0 over the last two regular seasons, which included this year’s outstanding 13-0 ledger to complete the shorted 2020 campaign.

“Since we were cut short for the season, we really just wanted to make it for what it was,” said Chipman. “We wish we had a state championship opportunity, but since we didn’t, we were like ‘let’s just do this.’” 

Lowe led the historic night with 16 kills, five digs and two aces. Plourde added eight kills, three aces, two blocks and two assists. And Leah Chipman directed traffic with precision, posting 36 assists and two digs.

Rodjenski added a couple kills and a team-high eight aces, while Winiarski bumped up eight digs to complete the efforts from the seniors.

Also for Eastern, Hannah Webber ramped up four kills, two aces, and three digs, Alex Shorette tallied four digs, and Lauren Bender was excellent once again, adding eight kills and seven digs to the effort.

Farmington (9-5) has been a thorn in the Lancers’ side over the years, and while the program showed a little fight over points of the match, Eastern was just the superior side on the floor.

Eastern racked up 16 aces over the course of the evening as serve-receive was a major issue for Farmington.

And all of the Lancers’ hitters made loud swings on the ball as Eastern easily tallied points from both sides and the middle of the floor.

“They had a lot of energy,” said Reay of her hitters.

The tone of the match was quickly established in the first set when Plourde made a huge block on Farmington middle hitter Georgia Hughes for a point as Eastern led 4-1.

Plourde and Bender then rained down kills on the Indians to make it an eight point lead for the Lancers but Farmington used a 6-1 run to chop the deficit to 15-12.

But Plourde then got to the service line, lobbed over a couple aces and when a loud Lowe kill made it a 20-12 contest, the senior picked up her 1,000th kill and the match was stopped to acknowledge the historic moment.

Farmington made small runs to chop the deficit to three a couple times but Eastern refused to yield.

The Lancers ended the set with kills by Rodjenski and Bender as Eastern wrapped up the game, 25-20.

In set two, Rodjenski and Plourde picked up aces, Lowe’s swings were finding pay dirt, and on an attempted kill from Farmington’s Ali Godfrey that sailed out of bounds, the Lancers zipped up to an 11-3 edge.

“Having a practice, having two practices before the game to practice our new rotation made a big difference because we had to switch our rotation before the Avon game with two hours before the game,” said Reay. “And the girls that stepped in, after they got some reps, got a little more comfortable and really, they did what they needed to do.”

“They did a fantastic job.”

Lowe then plunked down two aces, with one that skimmed the net and neatly crashed over to the Indians’ side of the floor. When Webber blasted a serve that was never returned, Eastern’s lead was in double-figures at 18-6.

The cushion never fell below 11 the rest of the way, and when Lowe stuffed in one final kill that had no chance of being returned, the Lancers cruised to a 25-13 victory – leading 2-0 in the match.

In the third and final set, serve-receive issues continued to hinder the Indians as Rodjenski picked up aces, Plourde threw down a couple kills from the middle position on the court and out of the gate, it was an 8-2 game in Eastern’s favor.

Farmington hung around the best it could, trimming the deficit down to four, but Eastern kept the pressure on.

Bender slammed down a kill from the middle off a sweet short set from Chipman to put Eastern up by seven midway through the final game and when Bender’s short ace dropped in cleanly, the Lancers were leading 20-13.

“We definitely wanted to do things better,” said Chipman. “We knew that Farmington had improved since when we played them last time. They’re definitely a tournament team, so we came in here knowing that we had to compete. So we definitely came in here with that mindset of ‘we’re not going to go down without a fight.’ We definitely pushed ourselves in practices too.”

To end the event, Lowe zipped up two kills, and when one final Farmington ball hit the guide-wire on the net to finish the match, Eastern got to the pay window one final time in 2020 with the 25-17 set win – propelling the seniors to one final undefeated season and a 3-0 match victory against Farmington.

“Like I said, they were much more comfortable in their positions this game versus last game,” said Reay. “But [they were] also talking and they were just excited to end our season on a high note. That goes a long way.”

The match was the final one for seniors Amber and Brianna Champagne, Winiarski, Rodjenski, Plourde, Chipman, Scarritt and Lowe.

BRISTOL EASTERN 3, FARMINGTON 0

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol

Game Scores: 25-20, 25-13, 25-17

Lead Changes: 1

Ties: 1

Highlights – Bristol Eastern: Zoe Lowe, 16 kills, 5 digs, 2 aces; Ryley Plourde, 8 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks, 2 assists; Lauren Bender, 8 kills, 7 digs; Leah Chipman, 36 assists, 2 digs; Emma Rodjenski, 2 kills, 8 aces; Lucy Winiarski, 8 digs; Hannah Webber, 4 kills, 2 aces, 3 digs; Alex Shorette, 4 digs.

Records: Bristol Eastern 13-0 overall; Farmington 9-5