By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – After dropping a tough third set decision to the Bristol Central volleyball team, the program at Bristol Eastern quickly regrouped.

Coming out of the fourth set gate with zest, coupled with several miscues by the Rams, the Lancers were able to close out the contest – posting an impressive 3-1 decision over Central in a CCC South bout on Monday night from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.

Set scores were 25-23, 25-20, 17-25, and 25-15 as the Lancers moved to 9-1 overall.

Central dropped to 7-3, falling to the Eastern program for the 56th straight match. The Rams last defeated the Lancers back on November 3, 1994. 

Eastern senior standout Lauren Bender had another tremendous match, posting 22 kills and 18 digs to lead the charge.

“It feels awesome,” said Bender of the win. “Thanks to my teammates and everyone, I couldn’t have done it without them. We played our game tonight.” 

But despite dropping the first two sets, Central showed grit over the eight-point third set triumph and never let the Lancers feel comfortable until the final point was tallied.

The Rams had big momentum off that third set victory but fell flat after nabbing a 3-1 push in the fourth and final game.

Gaffes and blunders led Eastern to a 10-1 run and once the Kingstreeters grabbed a significant edge, Central never got back into the flow to challenge the lead again.

“We beat a team like Bristol Eastern 25-17 [in the third set] and then it was error after error after error after error,” said Central coach Lance Pepper. “And it’s more mental than anything else. We can hang with the best teams in the state. I don’t know what it is that we have to do for us to overcome this especially with returning kids from last year. It’s not their first go around and we have to be able to iron those things out.” 

Bender, Adrianna Reay (nine kills) and Lilli Lowe (five kills, five blocks) made big swings on the ball over first set play but Central libero Sam Sklenka, setter Alexandra Rivera and crew refused to let those efforts turn into points.

And it seemed like Central bumped up most of the balls Eastern set over the net early in match play.

“We lost a little focus in the first set,” said Eastern coach Stefanie Reay. “Central had some fantastic hits. Sam is an awesome libero. She’s getting a lot [of balls].” 

Off a couple mistakes by the Lancers, the Rams held a 16-10 push through the first set and was in control early in the affair.

Lowe then blocked a shot, flipping the ball over the net for a point, and then setter Alyssa Valentine (36 assists) boosted a pass over to Lowe for a tip-kill as Eastern eventually led 17-16. 

“Lilly did a nice job of playing very smart today,” said Reay of Lowe. “Central was double blocking her for a little while and she moved the ball around them. She did a really nice job.” 

Bender then took over with three straight swings, giving Eastern a one-point edge and Reay dropped in one final kill to end the first as the home squad picked up a 25-23 win.

In the second set, it was all knotted up at 5-5 before the Lancers eventually scooped up a double figure edge with Bender taking charge and dropping in kills – including one off a sweet set-up from Jayna Hatcher – as Eastern led 23-11.

“Lauren did a fantastic job to put the ball down as much as she possibly could from everywhere she could,” said Reay of Bender. “She’s a very smart player and she’s getting smarter and smarter.” 

“She seemed to work very well on the other side of the net and she’s placing the ball when she can and not just swinging hard every time. That’s something she’s improved upon a ton this year and I’m really impressed with that.”  

The Lancers won the second set 25-20 but Central’s Brooke Valentino, Maddie Lodovico, Lily Kirk and the offense – thanks in part to the hustling Rivera – started to churn a bit more offense going into the third set.

It was back and forth into the back-half of the third as Central was holding a slim 15-14 lead.

Quickly, Clingan posted two points off Rivera passes, Lodovico slipped in a clean ace and with Sklenka and Rivera bumping up everything in sight, Central etched up a 19-14 lead.

“The heart that Sam has is unmatched by any kid,” said Pepper of Sklenka. “She never wants the ball to hit the floor and there were times when Alex really showed what she could do defensively.”  

In all, it was a 9-2 Central run that gave the visiting aggression a 24-16 lead – ending the set with a 25-17 victory.

Clingan added an early fourth period kill and Lodovico dropped in another serve that was not returned as Central held an early two point push.

But when Central’s mistakes started to mount in the fourth period, Eastern took over for good.

Valentine found Bender for several swings, leading to kills and propelling the Lancers to a 19-9 cushion that was never challenged the rest of the way. 

“There were times when all of us as a whole, it was like we took plays off,” said Pepper. “You can’t take plays off. I don’t care who you’re playing against. I thought that was kind of a big issue with us tonight.”

And after two consecutive Central errors, Eastern ended the contest as Reay sent over a ball that was blocked out of bounds by the Rams, giving the Lancers a huge 25-15 victory – taking the match 3-1. 

“Overall, I think our girls played very calmly,” said Reay. “They did what we set out to do which is just play our game, play smart, keep working on the things we’re working on, keep improving every day and I think they are doing just that.” 

CCC SOUTH VOLLEYBALL

BRISTOL EASTERN 3, BRISTOL CENTRAL 1

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol

Set Scores: 25-23, 25-20, 17-25, and 25-15

Lead changes: 6

Ties: 18

Highlights – Bristol Eastern: Sarah Lacouture 17 digs; Lauren Bender 22 kills, 18 digs; Lilli Lowe 5 kills, block; Adrianna Reay nine kills, 12 digs; Gabby Caucci 4 aces, 2 kills, 5 digs;  Alyssa Valentine 2 kills, 38 assists, 6 digs.

Records: Bristol Eastern 9-1 overall; Bristol Central 7-3

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