For the second time in three seasons, the Bristol Central girls volleyball team will play for the Class L state championship.
The 10th-seeded Rams took care of third-seeded Woodstock Academy, 3-1, on Wednesday night at Rockville High School to reach the final. Set scores were 16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-21.
Bristol Central will face CCC foe and top seed Farmington, a 3-1 winner over fourth-seeded East Lyme. The set scores in that match, played at East Hampton High School, were 25-27, 25-23, 25-19, 25-16.
In the match against Woodstock, junior Lily Kirk tabulated 13 kills while senior Grace Higgins added 11 kills. Junior Ella Pratt and senior Emily Fontaine had four kills apiece. Kirk and Higgins combined four eight aces (four each) with one miss in 38 serve attempts. Senior Lily Hinton added two aces. Sophomore Isabella Alves had four total blocks while Fontaine and Pratt added three blocks apiece. Senior Daigelis Figueroa tallied 32 digs and 37 serve-receives, Kirk added 17 digs and Higgins chipped in 15 digs and 17 serve-receives. Hinton passed out 32 assists with just one error in 117 attempts.
Bristol Central played Farmington twice during the regular season, with the RiverHawks winning both matches (3-0 and 3-1). The 3-0 loss was at Farmington on Sept. 13 while the 3-1 defeat was inside the friendly confines of the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium on Oct. 4.
In the Oct. 4 match, the Rams earned a split of the first two sets before the RiverHawks claimed the last two sets (25-16, 21-25, 25-16, 27-25). Kirk had 22 kills and Higgins 11 that night. Hinton put up 37 assists, Figueroa had 25 digs and 33 serve-receives, and Higgins added 31 serve-receives.
Saturday’s Class L state championship match is scheduled for 3 p.m. at East Haven High School. Bristol Central is appearing in its second-ever final and looking for its first state championship. Farmington is making its 14th appearance and has won nine state tiles.
