It made total sense that the St. Paul and Wolcott girls volleyball teams would play a five-set match in an NVL quarterfinal on Saturday. They did it twice during the regular season, after all.
And for the third time this season, the Falcons edged out the Eagles, 3-2. The set scores were 25-14, 22-25, 25-10, 22-25, 15-10. Fourth-seeded St. Paul (16-5 overall) will play top-seeded Seymour (18-1) in the second of Tuesday’s semifinals at 7:30 p.m. at Naugatuck High School. Allie Barton led the Falcons with 18 kills, eight digs and three aces. Rebecca Kelly tallied eight kills and three blocks; Ellie Galasso added 10 digs and three aces; and Julia McPhee chipped in 29 assists, eight digs and three aces. For the Eagles (10-8), Sage Thornton had 13 kills; Abby Wrinn added seven kills; and Lizzie Francisco recorded 23 assists and four aces.
That match was part of a busy league tournament Saturday for local teams. Here’s more on those contests:
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
In another NVL quarterfinal, Holy Cross beat Oxford, 3-1. The set scores were 27-25, 25-19, 15-25, 25-17. The third-seeded Crusaders (18-3) will play second-seeded Woodland (19-2) in Tuesday’s first semifinal at 5 p.m. Sarah Medeiros had 12 kills, two aces and four digs; Eliana Capobianco added nine kills, three aces and 12 digs; and Tyra McKoy chipped in seven kills, four digs and five blocks.
Seventh-seeded WCA lost, 3-0, to Woodland. The set scores were 25-14, 25-14, 25-11. Yainy St. Hilare-Porfil had 15 digs and Kendra Cameron added two aces, four kills, two blocks and three digs for the Spartans (12-9).
CCC
Eighth-seeded Bristol Central swept ninth-seeded Manchester, 3-0, in a first-round match on Saturday in the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium. The Rams (15-6) will face top-seeded RHAM (18-2) on Tuesday in a quarterfinal in Hebron. Brooke Valentino led Central with eight kills, followed by Maddie Lodovico with six kills. Lily Kirk and Olivia Clingan had five kills apiece. Grace Higgins had nine aces and served at 100% on 18 attempts. Sam Sklenka had 12 digs and Alex Rivera added 24 assists.
No. 13 Bristol Eastern fell, 3-0, at No. 4 Simsbury. The Lancers dropped to 11-8 with the loss.
GIRLS SOCCER
Wolcott gets the rare opportunity to host an NVL semifinal on Tuesday after its 3-0 quarterfinal home win over Seymour in the 4-5 matchup. Analise Pilarski had a goal and an assist while Hadixha Qyteza and Julia Loughman added a goal apiece. Kim Langlais earned a clean sheet and had three saves.
The Eagles (9-6-2) will play top-seeded Woodland (14-2-1) at 5 p.m. at Joe Monroe Field. The Hawks defeated St. Paul (6-10-1), 6-1, in Beacon Falls. Alexis Muthing had the lone goal for the Falcons.
Holy Cross played its quarterfinal at Post University and ran past Naugatuck, 8-2. The third-seeded Crusaders (11-5-1) play second-seeded Watertown (12-4-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Monroe Field. Jenna Tracey had four goals and two assists in a bigtime effort for Holy Cross. Kaitlyn Alagno had two goals and two assists, and Juliana Dane tallied a goal and two assists.
BOYS SOCCER
Holy Cross knocked off St. Paul, 2-0, in the 2-7 matchup at Naugatuck High School. The second-seeded and defending champion Crusaders (12-3-2) will play sixth-seeded Torrington (9-5-3), a 3-0 upset winner over third-seeded Watertown, in Tuesday’s first semifinal at 5 p.m. at Municipal Stadium’s Ray Snyder Sr. Field. Holy Cross got goals from Nico Sodan and Elias Wall and five saves from Aiden Peterson in the shutout. Tyson Raymond stopped 11 shots for the seventh-seeded Falcons (8-7-2).
Eighth-seeded Wolcott stayed even with top-seeded Oxford for the first 77:04 of their quarterfinal at Wolverine Field. Matt Dima scored with 2:56 to play to give the undefeated Wolverines (17-0) the victory. Sam Berninger made 11 saves in an outstanding effort for the Eagles (7-7-3).
PHOTO CAPTION: St. Paul’s Julia McPhee (11) serves during Saturday’s NVL girls volleyball quarterfinal against Wolcott in Bristol. At right are teammates Ellie Galasso (16) and Renee Singleton (19).
