By Michael Letendre
Wednesday evening is a big deal for Bristol scholastic volleyball.
For the first time ever, half the semifinal Class L state tournament bracket belongs to the Mum City.
That’s a credit to both the programs at Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern – battling into the final week of the fall scholastic season.
And both the Rams and Lancers travel to Naugatuck High School for a couple epic challenges.
In the first showdown of the day, 10th ranked Eastern squares off against a familiar opponent in the form of No. 3 Farmington while No. 9 Central takes on surprising twelfth rated St. Joseph at 7 p.m. with the winners of each match advancing to the finals.
Eastern brings Adrianna Reay and Gabby Caucci – two seniors who are absolute front line studs – joined by setter Naseem Hennouch, libero Andrea Martir Perez along with Samara Paranzino, Kaitlynn Beaulieu, Kamila Mateo-Rivera, Jamayrie McRae-Arroyo and Grace Brown.
That’s just part one of the fun.
Then in the nightcap, Central takes the court as captains Grace Higgins, Lily Kirk and setting star Alex Rivera lead the crew of Ella Pratt, Emily Fontaine, Isabella Alves, Lily Hinton and Daigelis Figueroa into battle.
Each match should be fun and worth the ride down Route 8 to witness the bouts in person
The CCC Rules when it comes to volleyball
On Wednesday night, there’s more to it than just a couple squads from Bristol battling it out for a chance at a state title bid.
And it’s obvious that the Central Connecticut Conference is, frankly, the best scholastic league for volleyball in the state.
Period.
That’s a huge credit to all the trials and tribulations of all the teams, including Southington, RHAM and Glastonbury.
Those are representatives from Class M, Class L and Class LL and each one of those teams has a chance to claim a state championship.
Again, the CCC rules.
Bristol Central vs. Bristol Eastern in the finals?!?
Finally, let’s address the pink elephant in the room: If Central and Eastern both win their respective matches, the finals will be an all-Bristol affair.
That’s a dream showdown that is on the cusp of becoming a reality and the gymnasium at East Haven High School would be rocking on Saturday afternoon with fans from Bristol all over the place.
Who wouldn’t want to witness a state championship tilt between the Rams and the Lancers?
It would also be the rubber match between the programs as the teams tied the season series 1-1, both winning in the opponent’s gymnasium.
With one game separating the squads from Championship Saturday, these are the two no-miss match-ups from the Class L semifinal round on Wednesday in Naugatuck.
Central and Eastern are ready to roll but win or lose, these two tremendous programs has made the city of Bristol extremely proud with those deep postseason runs.
Check out the Central and Eastern Class L semifinal previews in the pages of TBE.
NOTE…I am extremely disappointed that the CIAC couldn’t figure out a closer venue for the Class L semifinal matches than Naugatuck. The two Bristol programs, along with Farmington, would have easily filled the Ivan Wood Gymnasium in Plainville or loaded up the facility at New Britain. These are local rivalries and are big local drives and, outside of St. Joseph (Trumbull), those neutral sites would have made more sense. What’s the next move by the CIAC: taking away Thanksgiving Day football? We’ll talk about that whopper of a notion next week.
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