The Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central girls volleyball teams meet for the first of two times in the regular season tonight at 6:30 in the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium.
The Lancers (8-1) come into tonight’s match winners of three straight. The Rams (7-2) have been even hotter with six straight victories. Eastern is coming off a tough 3-2 win at Newington on Friday night. Before that, the Lancers won against Plainville and Maloney by 3-0 tallies. Eastern’s only loss of the season was at Simsbury, 3-0, on Sept. 21.
Seniors Alyssa Valentine, Lauren Bender, Lilli Lowe, and junior Adrianna Reay, all had big nights for the Lancers in the win over Newington. Through the first nine matches, five different Eastern players have served up 20 or more aces. Bender has 147 kills on the season while Valentine has 187 assists.
Central has won each of its last six matches – Middletown, Plainville, Farmington, Berlin, Platt and East Hartford – by a final of 3-0. The last defeat for Central was at Cheshire, 3-1, on Sept. 15. Seniors Brooke Valentino (89), Maddie Lodovico (74) and Olivia Clingan (54) all have 50 or more kills. Junior Alex Rivera has 243 assists.
The one stat that Eastern owns that Central would love to see not increase is 55. That’s how many matches the Lancers have won in a row against the Rams, a streak that dates back to 1994.
