The first round of Bell City matchups between Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central have been played, and the Lancers came out on top against the Rams in two of three matchups.
The first time the rivals met was on the volleyball court in the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium at Bristol Central High School back on Sept. 28. Central won the first two sets, but Eastern stormed back to take the next three sets and the match, 3-2. The set scores were 23-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-12.
Seniors led the way for the Lancers as Adrianna Reay blasted 34 kills and Gabby Caucci added 18 kills. Reay also had four aces while fellow senior Andrea Matir-Perez tallied three aces. Matir-Perez (25), Reay (24) and Caucci (22) all recorded over 20 digs while sophomore Naseem Hennouch was right behind them with 19. Hennouch also had 50 assists.
For the Rams, junior Grace Higgins and sophomore Lily Kirk both had 13 kills, freshman Isabella Alves added six kills and junior Emily Fontaine chipped in five kills. Alves, Kirk and senior Alex Rivera each had two aces while Alves contributed four total blocks. Junior Daigelis Figueroa had an astounding 48 digs, Higgins contributed 27 digs and Rivera added 19 digs. Rivera recorded 35 assists.
The next two matches were slated for Saturday on the synthetic turf pitch at Bristol Central. Torrential rains forced the postponement of both matches to Sunday. In the boys soccer matchup, the score was tied until later in the second half, when Eastern’s Landon Gawel headed home a corner kick from Lucas Tylicki for an eventual 2-1 win, according to a story from Michael Letendre of The Bristol Edition. Liam Sanchez-Barreto scored the other goal for the Lancers while Frank Palma tallied the Ram goal off a Rafael Antonio Jr. assist. Peyton Cummings made five saves for Eastern, which improved to 6-3. Harry Ross tallied three saves for Central, which fell to 4-5.
Francesca Amara and Sophia Dalipi each scored twice for the Ram girls in their 5-0 win over the Lancers. Madalyn Palamar scored the other goal, and Olivia Louis didn’t need to make a save to earn the shutout win for Central (2-5). Hailey Beebe made 10 saves for Eastern (2-6-1-).
The next Bell City matchup comes Thursday at Rockwell Park at 3:45. Central hosts Eastern and St. Paul.
