Avon tops Guilford, wins first state title

EAST HAVEN – EAST HAVEN — The Avon High girls volleyball team took control early and defeated Guilford 3-0 to earn the program’s first-ever state title in the Class L championship on Saturday.

From the beginning Avon was in the driver’s seat.

The Falcons would score first and eventually go on a 6-1 run to start off the set and wouldn’t look back. Guilford would bring it within three at 10-7, but that was as close as it would get as the Falcons were able to answer anything thrown at them. The lead would eventually get to 20-12 and Avon would close out the first set 25-16.

Playing with a lead was something that Avon got used to all match.

“It’s good for your confidence because you just know that you can get it done,” Avon coach Curt Burns said.

The Indians made things interesting in the second set, keeping it close for the majority. Avon would go on a 5-1 run early and take a 7-3 lead which would be the biggest point differential until the end.

Avon was able to pull away, winning 25-19.

The third set was the only point Guilford was able to take a brief lead at 6-4.

The Falcons stayed calm and went on an 8-1 run to take a 12-7 lead and from that point didn’t look back, securing the title, 25-16.

Staying focused and getting through a rough stretch was no surprise to Burns.

“They had that little spurt there in the early part of the third set and we called timeout. But we got through those couple of bumps and we were fine,” he said. “We prepared for this all during the season, we didn’t want to be in a culture shock when we got here. This was just another Saturday morning.”

The Falcons were able to play in control the whole match, always on the attack.

“We always kind of felt this could be the year for it. You really focus on getting here from day one. Our goal was to get here to East Haven on the 23rd and once we got here we said let’s close it out,” Burns said.