After a 3-1 loss to Branford on Oct. 12, the East Haven volleyball squad needed wins over Wilbur Cross, North Haven, and Career in three-straight games to clinch a share of the SCC Oronoque title. Three wins later, East Haven accomplished that and has now claimed at least a piece of the division in three of the past four seasons with eight Oronoque crowns in program history.

“When I got here, we weren’t one of the top two teams in the Oronoque, but over the last couple of years, the girls have worked really hard and accomplished being one of the top teams in the division,” said Head Coach Craig Brown, whose team shared the title with Branford. “In three of the last four years, we’ve walked away with at least a share of the division title.”

On Oct. 19, East Haven defeated North Haven 3-1 (25-16, 25-27, 25-17, 25-19). The Yellowjackets kept composure throughout the game to earn the win and keep their division title hopes alive. In the win, East Haven (14-5, 7-1) recorded 36 kills as a team with senior captain Allison Luzzi posting a team-best 15. Luzzi also had a team-high seven digs and senior captain Alyssa Barcomb dished out 29 assists. Senior captain Megan Doheny had her smooth service game working as she finished the match with six aces.

“It’s always a big win when you beat somebody in your division—whether they’re having a nice season or not. More times than not, when they’re playing you and not having a great year, they make it that much more important to themselves,” Brown said. “They want to beat the rival and come out ready to play. They came out gunning, but luckily, we were mentally strong, stayed true to what we do on the court, and our senior leadership helped bring us to victory.”

Following the win over North Haven, East Haven topped Career 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-11) to ultimately clinch its share of the division. Brown was very pleased with how his team bounced back from an earlier Branford loss that prevented his team from taking the title outright.

“To our girls’ credit, instead of falling and being down, we were able to rebound,” he said. “To be a part of the division championship, even though it’s co-champion, we were fighting through, so we could be a part of it.”

It was an overall even performance for East Haven, which heavily outperformed Career from the service stripe. The Yellowjackets finished with 21 aces as a team, compared to just two for Career. Kylie Schlottman led the way with seven and Doheny added five. Luzzi had a team-high six kills, plus Barcomb finished with 19 assists.

At this point of the season, Barcomb has 353 assists. Brown said that her ability to get to the second ball and set up East Haven’s powerful trio of heavy hitters has been a key to success all season.

“Right now, we’re doing a good job of giving our setter Alyssa feeds [for] our hitters,” Brown said. “Between Kylie, Allison, and Megan, we’re looking at all three of our main hitters getting over 100 kills by the end of the season.”

East Haven finished off last week with a 3-2 win over West Haven on Oct. 23. Set scores went 25-19, 14-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-11.

Having already locked up spots in both the SCC Tournament and Class M State Tournament, Brown hopes his squad continues to expand its season goals and attempt a run in both.

“That’s what it’s all about. We love being a part of a division championship, but we’ve grown as a program, so that’s not the only goal anymore,” he said. “It’s about winning rounds now in the SCC Tournament and making a run at the Class M state title.”

• East Haven has 451 kills as a team so far this season.

• For kills, Luzzi leads the Yellowjackets with 145, followed by Schlottman (120), and Doheny (88).

• East Haven shared the Oronoque crown with Branford, which also went 7-1 in divisional play.