By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – When it comes to scholastic sports, winning streaks are meant to be broken.
It’s the circle of life so to speak.
But for some reason, that’s not the case between the Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central volleyball programs and that’s because the Lancers continue to win every time when squaring off against the Rams.
It’s a streak that simply defies logic at this point in city series warfare on the court.
After Eastern defeated Central last Monday evening, the triumph made it 56 straight wins by Eastern over Central.
That winning streak started on October 2, 1995, as Eastern defeated Central by set scores of 15-11, 15-2, 9-15 and 15-6.
And from there, it’s been all Eastern.
The Lancers are certainly enjoying the streak and the topic makes for good reading in local newspapers (such as TBE).
However, this current group of players at Central, an excellent program that won eight of its first 12 matches this season, has been forced to carry a burden which has become generational in scope.
“I think there’s so much focus on pop a streak that none of these kids are responsible for,” said Central coach Lance Pepper after the Eastern showdown. “We have a kid playing in her first Central/Eastern game. She’s not responsible for twenty-eight years of a streak.”
That kid, Central freshman Lily Kirk, is going to be a good one – getting that athletic DNA from people like her mother, current Central cross country and boys track coach Tamara Stafford-Kirk, and Uncle Jason Stafford.
Both the Stafford kids were outstanding athletes at Eastern in the early 1990s.
Tamara was a tremendous leaper and hurdler on the girls track team while Jason played soccer (keeper), basketball and tennis – excelling in all three sports.
Fast forward to 2021 and Lily is thrust into a tricky situation in terms of a BC/BE volleyball rivalry that she – up until Monday – never had a chance to compete in.
Coming into a contest against a rival with an enormous winning streak puts added pressure onto an already tension-filled situation and that’s not easy to negotiate at the scholastic level.
There’s also a group of junior and seniors at Central who have endured the tough side of a very unique legacy.
“We have kids that are 0-3 against [Eastern]. They’re not 0-56,” said Pepper. “I think that’s a big focus of a lot of people, and it has nothing to do with the kids and their effort of what they put out on the floor.”
But over the last 11 city series matches, the gap between the programs has definitely shrunk and it could just be a matter of time before Lily Kirk and the Central program finally sees success on the court against Eastern.
For now, it’s all about the Kingstreeters, until October 24 at least, when the programs battle one more time during regular season play.
But this time, Eastern will be forced to compete from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium on the campus of Bristol Central.
That change in venue might be all the Rams need to finally break the streak.
Stats Check
The Central volleyball program did a credible job on Monday night, hanging against Eastern on the road.
Take away some of those fourth period mistakes and the Rams could have truly pushed for a fifth set.
Central setter Alex Rivera flipped up 33 assists, doing a tremendous job getting everyone involved on the front line, skipping in two kills and 15 digs along the way while Brooke Valentino led the squad with 18 kills and scooped up eight digs.
Olivia Clingan posted nine kills and three digs, Grace Higgins added four kills and seven digs, Maddie Lodovico had three kills and 20 digs, Kirk added a couple blocks and three digs to the till and Sam Sklenka bumped up a team-leading 24 digs as the Rams hung in against their crosstown rival.
Central has a number of good athletes in the program and will continue to compete at a high level against the cream of the crop over CCC confrontations.
Streaks that were broken
What should give Central hope in breaking the streak is what their girls basketball team accomplished last season against the Lancers.
Eastern, carrying a huge 34 game winning streak against Central, was looking to add to its tally last year during a midseason showdown versus the Rams.
But on Saturday, January 22, Central made that streak history with a 55-42 victory over the Lancers.
It was a big game and a huge deal that afternoon from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium.
The last Central win against Eastern before last season in hoop occurred back on February 16, 2004.
It was a game that crept up on the Lancers as the Rams stunned Eastern by a 60-57 final.
Central, going 5-15 that season, seemingly won the game out of nowhere as Allison Godbout dropped in 20 points while Takeya Flowers added 14.
Eastern’s Lindsey Marsh notched a game-high 24 points while the crafty Taylor Losey, using an impressive up-and-under move for buckets, added 21.
Anything is possible in city series play and don’t forget, Central’s boys cross country program hasn’t lost to Eastern in nearly two decades.
Let’s see what happens on October 24 between the two Bristol volleyball programs as the showdown will be another no-miss event.
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