Seymour too much for Raiders

NVL VOLLEYBALL: SEYMOUR 3, TORRINGTON 0

WATERBURY — A young Seymour girls volleyball team proclaimed its maturity with a 3-0 (26-24; 25-17; 25-22) win over Torrington for the NVL Championship at Crosby High School Thursday night.

The Wildcats (19-2), starting a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and the team’s only two seniors, reversed a 3-0 loss to the Red Raiders (21-2) early this season as well as the outcome of last year’s NVL final.

“We came a long way,” said Coach Cathy Federowicz, who took a much different team to last year’s Class M State Championship over Torrington.

This year’s Raiders start six seniors, but, they, too, are a much different team than last year’s Class M runners-up. Nevertheless, Torrington pushed through in the league lead for much of the season until losing a second league game to Seymour’s one late in the season.

With that much recent history between the two teams, Thursday’s matchup figured to be a classic and it was, despite the Wildcat sweep.

In an all-out struggle to an 18-18 first-game tie featuring miracle digs and crashing kills on both sides, Torrington seemed to take control with a 24-21 lead behind a pair of kills from Lauren Gaghan (8 kills, 1 dig), another by Vivian Jimenez-Rijo and a serving ace by Candyce Jewett (13 digs, 4 aces).

But despite Torrington’s senior edge, the Wildcats

had a huge one at the serving line — the final’s Most Valuable Player, Molly Kennedy (17 kills), along with a very grown-up sophomore, Kolby Sirowich (5 kills).

After a Torrington error, Kennedy took over the serve and produced a back-row kill. Sirowich finished the comeback with two tips over the Raider front line and a kill, 26-24.

“We’ve grown as a team,” said Kennedy. “We have a lot of young players, so I felt like I had to carry the team, but tonight, we played our best game of the season.”

Kennedy asserted herself more and more as the match went on, starting with a kill that wiped out Torrington’s only lead in Game 2, joined by another big-time sophomore, Faith Rousseau (12 kills) and Sirowich on the way to a commanding 17-10 Game 2 lead and the final point on another kill.

“They outplayed us tonight,” said Torrington Coach Christine Gamari. “They were more aggressive at the net and more aggressive defensively.”

With two games under

their belts, Seymour clung to the aggression with all the tenacity of, well, Wildcats, in Game 3.

Kennedy had her biggest showing yet with four kills on the way to another commanding lead, 14-7.

Torrington fought back to 19-14 highlighted by a pair of kills from Bayleigh DiMauro (7 kills), but this one wasn’t getting away from the Wildcats.

“I said at the beginning of the year, this wasn’t going to be easy,” said Coach Federowicz. “I told them they were going to go home crying some days. This is the best we’ve played all year.”

“I’ve seen us play a lot better than we did tonight,” said Coach Gamari. “I told the girls we’re wiping the slate clean (before next week’s state tournament begins).”

If all goes well, the two teams could meet again in this year’s Class M semifinals.