By Michael Letendre
Last season, the Bristol Central volleyball program truly had a banner year – the best in school history.
On the court in the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium and in the classrooms at BCHS, the squad achieved on several levels.
The program ended its postseason last year with a trip to the Class L Championship game, dropping a tough 3-0 decision to Joel Barlow.
That’s a pretty good postseason finish as the Class L runner-up.
However, that wasn’t the only postseason honor the team received as the American Volleyball Coaches Association also had something in store for the program at Central.
The volleyball team, under the guidance of head coach Lance Pepper, won the 2023 USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award along with earning the Honor Roll distinction, representing the top twenty percent of team GPAs in their division.
“2023 marks the 31st anniversary of the award, and we continue our tradition of honoring teams who have matched their dedication to the sport of volleyball with excellence in the classroom,” according to a release by the AVCA and United States Marine Corps. “The benchmark is an average 3.3 Grade Point Average for the entire year. Coaches did not win this award, your team did, but the encouragement to stay focused on academics means this accomplishment was not happenstance.”
That was one heck of a campaign for the volleyball team at BCHS and it should be tremendous to witness what the encore will be this year when the regular season finally commences on Monday.
Captain Kirk to the bridge, er, court please!
The Central volleyball team has three captains this season, representing three different classes.
Those captains are senior setter Alex Rivera, junior Grace Higgins (who is her father cheering for today, Central or Eastern?) and tremendous sophomore Lily Kirk.
Schedule update
Now that the hot weather is in the rearview mirror, Central is ready for action on the court.
Two matches grace (as in Higgins) the schedule this week for the 2022 Class L runner-up.
The Rams open the 2023 campaign with a showdown against Berlin from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium at 6:30 p.m. on Monday while on Thursday, it’s a huge CCC South encounter at Maloney High School in Meriden.
Match time is 6 p.m. and the battles between the schools is usually a good one
