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11/08/2014 11:00 PMThe 15th-seeded East Haven volleyball team won two matches in the Class M State Tournament before getting eliminated in the quarterfinals.
The wins came against No. 18 Berlin, 3-2, and No. 2 Wilcox Tech 3-0 before losing to No. 7 Waterford 3-0 to finish with an overall record of 14-10.
In the first round, the Yellowjackets took down Berlin 3-2 (25-23, 25-20, 25-27, 14-25, 15-8).
“We came in, supposedly an even-matched team, and we played well against them in the first two sets. But them, like any other solid team, fought back, pushed us into extra points in game three, and really a momentum swing into game four,” Head Coach Craig Brown said. “They blew us out in game four, but our girls, to their credit, bounced back the way a good team does and we were able to put it back together for game five and win.”
Freshman Kylie Schlottman led the squad with 11 kills and eight blocks and fellow middle hitter Megan Doheny provided four kills and seven blocks. The win was huge for East Haven’s confidence moving forward.
“Getting off on the right foot, especially coming off a first round loss in the SCC Tournament, provided momentum,” Brown said. “We hadn’t played a meaningful game in about a week-and-a-half to that point and we were anxious and ready to get going.”
In the second round, East Haven faced off against No. 2 Wilcox Tech and shut the squad down 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-23). The Yellowjackets weren’t afraid of going againt second-ranked Wilcox as they’re used to playing quality teams from the SCC.
“The SCC is a good conference. We had six losses in conference with teams that finished with 16, 15, and 14 wins,” Brown said. “We’re used to playing good teams and we knew going into the state tournament that every team is a good team at this point. Nobody makes the state tournament if they’re a bad team so we had to walk into every game ready to play regardless of what the ranks are.”
East Haven held a huge advantage while serving, scoring 14 team aces. Alyssa Barcomb went a perfect 10-for-10 from the service stripe with two aces. Throughout the game, things went the way of East Haven as Coach Brown said he got contributions out of everyone on the floor.
“We went in there, played confidently, and we played like we should be playing all year. We made the plays that we needed to make and walked out winners,” he said. “Defensively, [Allison] Luzzi and [Corinne] Palmer carried us. Kylie [Schlottman] and Megan [Doheny] had a nice night at the net hitting and blocking and Giovanna Russo kept us rolling the whole time, running around and setting up great passes.”
Unfortunately, East Haven’s run ended in the quarterfinals as the Yellowjackets fell to No. 7 Waterford 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-15). Brown said his squad played a great match with one of the best performances they’ve had in a few weeks, but were a step behind Waterford throughout the night, resulting in the loss.
“It just so happened that on that night, Waterford was the better team. They played really well. They did everything that we tried to do on our side, but they were a little bit quicker in getting it down than we were,” Brown said. “They just did what good teams do. They were one step ahead of us. They hit angles first and we were a step behind trying to make our adjustments the whole night. I think we had second or third most amount of digs in that matchup than we had all year and they were quality digs. We were just trying to figure a way to keep up defensively with their offense.”
Schlottman led the charge offensively with seven of the team’s 14 kills. The Yellowjackets finished with 46 digs as a team and both Abigail Poulin and Luzzi had 12 each.
Coach Brown was very proud of how his squad played throughout the state tourney and hopes the younger players will see what it takes to play at this level and strive to return year after year.
“We don’t want to be successful for one year and then take a step back anymore. This is my fourth year. These seniors were my first freshman class. It was all built up that when we got here that they were ready to make a run in states,” Brown said. “We were able to do so and now we’re shooting for that every year. The girls that are juniors and sophomores all want to be stepping up to the next level and reach the semis next year.”