It’s a weird fall high school season with a shortened schedule and the same opponents, sometimes over and over again.
All the Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central girls volleyball teams have done, with the exception of one match against each other, is win. The Lancers moved to 9-0 with a 3-0 sweep at Southington on Monday evening. The Rams improved to 8-1 with a 3-0 sweep against Plainville at home, also on Monday. Eastern beat Central, 3-1, for the lone Ram loss (more on that later).
Eastern is an experienced bunch, with seniors accounting for nine of the 15 players listed on the team’s MaxPreps roster. The seniors were active throughout the win over Southington, which was livestreamed by Southington on Twitch. Senior setter Leah Chipman does a great job orchestrating the offense, and senior Zoe Lowe is among several Lancers who can put the ball down. Up front, Lowe is joined at any time by a plethora of seniors, including Amber Champagne, Ryley Plourde and Sage Scarritt. Junior Hannah Webber also displayed some good energy up front in the Southington match. Plourde had nine kills against Southington while Scarritt added six kills.
Seniors account for six of the 15 players listed on Central’s MaxPreps roster. For the Rams, senior setter Gwen Torreso runs the offense, and fellow senior Emily Ericson is her top target. Senior Brooke Soucy tops the team in digs and senior Kayla St. Onge is among the leaders in blocks, along with junior Destinee Craft.
Eastern and Central meet for the second time this season on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. inside the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium at Bristol Central. The first meeting went to the Lancers, 3-1, back on Oct. 3 inside the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium at Bristol Eastern. The set scores that day were 23-25, 25-23, 25-11, 25-20.
Lowe had 20 kills to lead the Lancers in the first meeting. Plourde had 10 kills, Webber added eight and Scarritt chipped in six. Lowe had just a monster match overall that also included seven aces and 17 digs. Chipman passed out 45 assists.
For the Rams, Ericson had 18 kills, 10 digs and two blocks. St. Onge tallied five kills, as did sophomore Brooke Valentino, who had seven aces. Torreso passed out 27 assists.
