By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – When will this train-ride for the Bristol Eastern volleyball team end?
Who knows and who cares because the tenth ranked Lancers kept its postseason ledger undefeated – turning away No. 18 St. Joseph in straight games from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol on Saturday night.
Set scores were 25-20, 25-10 and 25-15 as Eastern has gone 7-for-7 in postseason play this year between the Central Connecticut Conference Tournament and the Class L playoffs.
But the victory over the Cadets has set up an extremely unique match-up on Wednesday in Class L semifinal play.
The time and location of the event will be determined but New Britain remains a viable location for the semifinal contests.
It’s going to be a rematch of the CCC Tournament Championship as the Kingstreeters – now an astounding 21-5 – battles No. 11 Simsbury in a bout to determine which team goes on to the Class L finals.
And once again, all of Eastern stars came out for the show against the Cadets (13-9).
Hannah Webber did a little of everything for the Lancers, leading the charge with 24 kills, three aces, two blocks, and three digs.
Fellow senior Alex Shorette saw serve after serve fail to come back over the net as her 10 aces was a huge contribution for the victors.
Shorette also added four digs while Lauren Bender just fell short of one of her vaunted double-doubles (10 kills, 9 digs).
Abby Jones directed another great offensive showing, posting 32 assists and bumping up two digs, while Alyssa Adorno (six aces) and Sarah Lacouture (three aces) knocked over serves which fell in for aces as serve-receive was a big issue for the Cadets all evening long.
Lilli Lowe rejected a shot and added a kill while Adrianna Reay collected a kill, one blocked shot and dished out two assists.
The first contest saw both teams seize the momentum early but in the end, the Lancers were 25-20 winners and led the match, 1-0
Set two went to St. Joseph in the opening stages – racing out to an 8-3 lead – before Shorette started to serve up bombs and the Cadets struggled from there.
Shorette and Adorno pumped down aces and that five-point deficit became a 16-9 edge for the Kingstreeters.
Eastern then closed out the game via a 9-1 jaunt and won the set, 25-10, as the Lancers were cruising.
In game three, it was all Eastern as the squad wrangled up an 8-2 edge and never looked back.
It would only get marginally better for the Cadets but the Lancers never yielded, seizing a 25-15 win in set three – taking the match 3-0 and moving onto the semifinal round.
NOTES…No. 1 RHAM had late trouble with No. 8 South Windsor but ended up seizing a 3-1 victory behind set scores of 25-21, 25-21, 21-25, and 25-15 to qualify for the semifinals. And it could have been an all-CCC semis but No. 4 Edwin O. Smith refused to comply. No. 5 North Haven defeated the Panthers in five sets (25-22, 20-25, 17-25, 25-15, 16-14).
