By David Fierro
After receiving an opening-round bye in the CIAC Class LL Volleyball Tournament, second-seeded Greenwich High School hosted 18th-seeded Norwich Free Academy in Thursday’s Round of 16 match and the Cardinals earned the type of result they’ve been registering all season.
It was yet another sweep for the Cardinals, who cruised to a 3-0 win over NFA, winning the Round of 16 state tournament match by set scores of 25-6, 25-7, 25-15. Greenwich has rolled to a dominant record of 22-2 so far this season and has won 19 matches by a 3-0 count.
The Cardinals are right back in action today (Nov. 9) against visiting Fairfield Ludlowe, the No. 7 seed, in the CIAC Class LL Tournament quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. Greenwich’s match against Norwich Free Academy on Thursday (Nov. 7) marked its first matchup since it lost to rival Darien in the championship match of the FCIAC Tournament, 3-1.
“I think we played super well, especially because we just came off the loss against Darien in the FCIAC Championship,” Greenwich senior captain/setter Sarah Bernann said. “I think it shows a lot about how resilient we are, we’re still going to play Greenwich volleyball even if that match wasn’t our best game.”
Bernaan tallied 22 assists, four digs, four kills and two aces, while senior libero/captain Joy Houdre registered 28 digs, six assists and one aces to help pace the Cards to their state tournament victory over visiting NFA.
Greenwich made it tough for NFA to generate much offensively throughout the match and carried the momentum in each set.
“Defensively, I thought we were on every ball,” Houdre said. “When the offense is staying aggressive then it’s a lot easier for the defenders to pick up everything that’s going back, usually it’s free balls. We stayed super aggressive the whole time on offense and defense.”
Kayah Armstrong, a sophomore, recorded 10 kills, two digs and two blocks for GHS, which received 14 kills and two digs from senior captain Alina Sarkissian.
“The team played so well,” Sarkissian said. “We all had fun but we were also dialed in. We know that we have a list of teams that we need to beat and we need to get through that list without playing with the wrong type of emotion.”
Indeed, Greenwich used the break it had between the FCIAC Tournament and the Class LL tourney to its advantage.
“The rest did us well, there were some things that we needed to practice from our game against Darien and we worked on it and we changed our game plan and I think that it’s going to work really well,” Sarkissian noted.
Bernaan said: “We had the bye, which got us out of the first round, which was super helpful. We got to work on a lot of things, which improved our skills and today we just played Greenwich volleyball again.”
Sophomore Heidi Zieme also had a productive all-around match, tallying 10 digs, nine kills and one block for the victors.
Should Greenwich defeat Ludlowe in today’s quarterfinal-round it will play the winner of third-seeded Darien and No. 22 Staples in the Class LL semifinals on Nov. 13.
“It’s going to be a long journey for us in the state tournament and I think that we’re ready for it,” Armstrong said. “We’ve been practicing and locked in, so we’re all excited.”
Armstrong has emerged as one of Greenwich’s potent hitters this fall.
“I felt great on the court, everyone was doing so well, so I felt confident and felt that I should get another hit and just do it for myself but for the team as well,” Armstrong said.
Greenwich was victorious against today’s state opponent, Ludlowe, 3-0, during the regular season. The Falcons advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win versus 10th-seeded Simsbury.
“It is going to be harder, but I think Greenwich is all about resilience and athleticism and I think we’re ready mentally and physically to take on a challenge bigger than the ones we had,” Bernaan said.
“We’re going to come back from that loss and we’re going to play super hard for the rest of states and we hope to see Darien again and when we do it will be a whole different team,” Houdre noted.
