By Michael Letendre
GUILFORD — Over the past two seasons, once the Bristol Central volleyball program has hit the postseason, the outfit isn’t so easy to top.
And on Thursday night, in a huge Class L, second round tilt against No. 8 Guilford, the ninth ranked Rams made all the right plays to eventually topple the higher seed.
That effort led Central to a huge 3-0 sweep of the Grizzlies from Guilford High School.
Set scores were 26-24, 25-22 and 25-22 as eight total points separated the two programs in the end.
That’s just about as close as close gets in terms of scholastic volleyball.
The Grizzlies were tremendous, pushing the envelope over all three sets but ended up getting swept on its own home floor none-the-less.
The victory propels the Central volleyball program to the Class L quarterfinal round for a huge showdown against top-ranked East Lyme.
The teams will clash on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. from East Lyme High School over another can’t miss event.
All the stars came out to shine for Central against Guilford as Lily Kirk, Grace Higgins, Alex Rivera, Daigelis Figueroa, Emily Fontaine, Ella Pratt, Isabella Alves and Lily Hinton all contributed to the winning endeavor.
Kirk dropped in 17 kills to lead the offensive charge while Grace Higgins added 12 as the duo combined for 29 of Central’s total of 38 kills.
And Emily Fontaine was simply tremendous, sizing up eight kills over a huge effort and every swing she dropped in proved big in the end.
Central coach Lance Pepper said that serving would be important in postseason play, making a huge difference against Guilford as the Rams nabbed 15 total aces.
Figueroa tabled five aces, Fontaine and Kirk etched up three apiece while Rivera had two.
Defensively, Fontaine blocked three shots, Figueroa bumped up 18 digs, Kirk added 13 digs while Rivera (eight digs), Alves (seven) and Higgins (seven) all played excellent defense to help set things up.
And finally, Rivera continued to add to her 2,000-plus assist total with another 33 as the squad gave everything it had to move to 18-8 overall on the season.
East Lyme is legit
The Vikings enter play on Saturday night at 21-2 overall and have just about rolled everyone in their path.
Lyme has only dropped about a dozen sets all season long, but the Rams are battled tested from its play in Central Connecticut Conference battles — proving to be one of, if not the best, leagues in all the state.
The Vikings earned its trip to the quarters after defeating No. 16 Masuk of Monroe via set scores of 25-9, 25-16 and 25-12.
East Lyme is currently on a 17-match winning streak and has talent up and down the roster which will challenge Central from start to finish.
Abigail Parulis has over 250 kills on the season and the junior is an extremely talented finisher at the net.
She’s joined by senior Addison Soleau (168 kills) and sophomore Finnley Wilson (146 kills).
The squad can and will block shots from the front row as Soleau looms as a big presence for opponents to tally swings against.
Skylar Bell (328 digs) bumps up a ton of balls from deep while sophomore Isabella Diep (621 kills) gets the offense churning for Class L’s top seed.
Don’t forget the time!
The match between Central and East Lyme commences at 5 p.m. and is one of four Class L bouts taking place on Saturday.
In fact, half of the remaining Class L bracket have programs competing from the CCC.
At 5 p.m., No. 12 St. Joseph travels to No. 4 Woodstock Academy while in an All-CCC showdown, No. 6 Simsbury goes to No. 3 Farmington (3 p.m.) for a big quarterfinal showdown.
And finally, down the street from the Central/East Lyme confrontation, No. 10 Bristol Eastern is in action – battling No. 2 Waterford from Waterford High School in what has turned into an all-Lancers affair.
The huge bout tees off at 6 p.m.
Bristol Central Volleyball — Class L, Second Round Battle
No. 9 BRISTOL CENTRAL 3, No. 8 GUILFORD 0
from Guilford High School
Set Scores: 26-24, 25-22 and 25-22.
Highlights: Bristol Central – Lily Kirk 17 kills, three aces, 13 digs; Grace Higgins 12 kills, seven digs; Alex Rivera 33 assists, two aces, eight digs; Daigelis Figueroa five aces, 18 digs; Emily Fontaine eight kills, three aces, three blocks; Isabella Alves seven digs.
Records: Bristol Central 18-8 overall.
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