Bristol Eastern’s players and fans can be forgiven for dreaming of holding a Class L volleyball trophy over their heads later this week. The Lancers were on a roll, having won 9 straight games, capturing the CCC championship against the team they were about to play, and rolling through the first 3 games of the state tournament. But Simsbury had other ideas. They came to play right from the first serve and led throughout a match that ended the Lancers’ season in the semi-final matchup at Northwest Catholic High School Wednesday night.

The Trojans jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set, and although Eastern rallied and actually had a chance to win it, Simsbury cashed in the last three points to take a 28-26 verdict. That was actually the closest the Lancers ever came in a match that Simsbury controlled throughout..

BE came out unsteadily in that first set, with a combination of floor errors and inconsistent serving haunting them throughout. On the flip side, Simsbury was confident from the start, eager to avenge their loss to Eastern in the finals of the CCC Tournament. The Trojans held the lead from their strong beginning, and the score stood at 20-15 Simsbury, when the Lancers rode the strong serving of Lauren Bender to eventually tie the set at 21 all.

The score see-sawed from there, and Eastern actually had two chances to win on their serve, but Simsbury continually answered any Lancer surge. Eastern served one into the net to tie the score at 26, and Simsbury took control from there with 2 strong serves and a put-away at the net. Set 1 ended with Simsbury the victor, 28-26.

In set two, the script stayed exactly the same. Simsbury jumped out to a 10-5 lead as Eastern was plagued by service errors to choke off any chance of gaining some momentum. The difference in the second set was that the Trojans never let the BE group back in the game. Simsbury led throughout, combining strong serves with an incredible net game. The Trojans seemingly knew everywhere BE was going to set the ball for their big hitters, Hannah Webber and Bender, and there were two Trojans there to block every kill attempt of the Lancers. This then caused several kill attempts by Eastern to sail long or fall into the net. The second set ended with a 25-20 score.

Facing a sweep, the large contingent of Lancer fans did all they could to lift the spirits of the Eastern team with a standing cheer to begin the third set. It was of little use, as Simsbury, for the third straight time, took total control and grew the lead to 20-6 before the Lancers showed even a glimmer of life. At 23-7, Eastern ran off 6 straight points to bring the score to 23-13, but Simsbury regained their control of the match and served it out for a 25-15 victory.

When asked for the key to Simsbury’s dominant performance, coach Brian Leblanc said, “The key to tonight was blocking. Our middles went up there and we had a game plan to where we wanted to specifically block. With big hands, they took away a lot of those swings that we didn’t get the first time around.” (Referring to the CCC championship game) Leblanc continued, “Without the CCC matchup the first time, I don’t know if we get this one. I think that gave us good experience. It’s hard to beat a team twice. We had a little bit of a leg up having seen them the first time.”

Coach Stefanie Reay of Eastern said that one of the big differences in this game was how effective and aggressive the Simsbury servers were. “When we can pass and set up our hitters at the net, we can hit around the blockers they set up.” But the Simsbury serves made that kind of accurate passing very difficult.

After the game ended, Eastern huddled for a long time at the end of the court. “I told them that we should be proud of how far we came. We took the CCC trophy this year and made it to the semi-finals of the state tournament,” stated Coach Reay. “They shouldn’t hang their heads by any means.”

She continued, “Especially for our seniors, I told them you have no idea what kind of impact you’re having on all of these younger girls and all the other younger girls that are watching you in the stands.” Reay pointed out that their attitude and hard work set an example that will carry on for years to come.

The three Eastern seniors playing their final game were captains Abby Jones, Hannah Webber, and Alex Shorette.

Webber led the Lancers with 17 kills, Jones had 18 assists, and Shorette had 3 digs and 3 assists. Bender chipped in with 11 kills.

Simsbury spread out their offense with Cara Kaplinski, Brenna Piller, and Sophia Smith collecting 6 kills apiece. Piller led the Trojans with 15 assists.

The Trojans will now face RHAM in the Class L Championship on Saturday at 4:00 at East Haven High School.

Final Score- Simsbury 3- Bristol Eastern 0

Set Scores- 28-26, 25-20, 25-15