Schlottman, Easties too much for Torrington

TORRINGTON — East Haven overcame early Torrington leads in all three of its winning sets for a 3-1 (25-23; 25-20; 16-25; 25-20) Class M volleyball quarterfinal win at Torrington High School Friday evening.

Both teams dealt with new looks.

“We practiced really hard for this game,” said Yellowjacket senior Kylie Schlottman, who finished with 15 kills and 8 digs. “They use a ‘rover’ defense that’s different from other teams we’ve seen.”

“Their offense is different than what we see in the NVL,” Torrington coach Christine Gamari said. “They set the ball lower to the outside, so the hits come quicker. I’m proud of how my girls adjusted.”

Ultimately, though, that offense and Schlottman’s dominance at the net kept the No. 2 Red Raiders (21-4) just off balance enough for the No. 7 Yellowjackets (19-4) to do their job.

“Kylie’s the one people look for, so she opens things up for our other hitters,” East Haven coach Craig Brown said. “Two of our other girls — Summere Onorato (8 kills, 12 digs) and Diana Katman — have over 100 kills.”

“We finally had to put someone on (Schlottman) every time she was at the net,” Gamari said.

Torrington ran out to a 5-1 lead in Game 1 behind a pair of kills and a block from its own hitters — Bayleigh DiMauro (8 kills, 5 digs) and Nina Lestrud (8 kills, 1 block).

The Yellowjackets came back to an 11-10 deficit. Then Schlottman showed her stuff along with the results of the East Haven practice.

Three Schlottman kills, including one to a spot the rover might leave open, buoyed East Haven to a 16-12 lead. Katman blasted two more kills in a row, to 20-14.

The Raiders fought back to 21-19 with kills by Lauren Gaghan ((9 kills) and a block by Vivian JimenezRijo. But a pair of aces by Yellowjacket Megan Roberts and a final kill by Schlottman put East Haven over the top.

Game 2 followed the same script. Torrington started with a 5-1 lead. The Yellowjackets caught up at 8-8 with a kill from Kat-

man. With a 21-17 edge, East Haven’s Onorato had the final blow in the night’s longest volley featuring amazing Yellowjacket digs.

“We were not able to put the ball down as efficiently as we did (in a secondround win over Jonathan Law),” Gamari said.

“We’ve played strong defense for the last three years,” Brown said. “Now that we’re more experienced, we’ve added some offense.”

In the final point in Game 2, its name was Schlottman with a final tap.

Torrington flipped roles in Game 3, falling in an early 5-2 hole, then rallying for the win with strong play from Gaghan at the

net and unforced lapses by East Haven.

But the script was intact for the final game. Torrington took a 3-1 lead.

East Haven caught up at 7-7, then pulled into the dock with a final kill by Onorato.

The Yellowjackets play defending Class M champion Seymour — 3-0 quarterfinal winners over Nonnewaug — Tuesday at a semifinal time and place to be announced.