Southington chasing success once again
The Southington High School boys volleyball team is playing with an extreme sense of urgency in this spring season.
It is paying great dividends for the Blue Knights, as they are just one of the two remaining undefeated teams in the state.
Southington was 15-0 heading into Friday night’s home matchup against South Windsor. They have lost just four sets all season, the latest coming in last Thursday’s 3-1 home triumph over Farmington.
Southington is atop the seven-team Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) West Region standings. The Blue Knights are battling Newtown (16-0) for the No. 1 ranking in Class L.
The success of Southington’s program has been building. The Blue Knights were 17-2 overall, 8-0 in the revamped CCC South Region in the 2017 regular season and graduated five seniors from that group.
Southington was 15-3 in the 2018 regular season and graduated seven seniors, including a trio of All-CCC South selections from that squad.
Here in 2019, Southington has five seniors — John Lloyd Idian, Brett Hunter, Adam Hunter, Justin Miranda and Scott Crooks — in its starting six. Freshman Matt Morgan completes the group.
The key juncture on whether Southington can have an undefeated regular season should come on Tuesday when it hosts the rematch with Newington. Newington is 15-1 and ranked No. 1 in Class M. Newington’s lone loss (3-2) was to Southington on April 25.
However, Southington’s priority for success and legacy will likely focus on the postseason.
The Blue Knights lost in the CCC Tournament finals to East Hartford in 2016 and ’17.
The Class L state tournament has not been kind to Southington the past four years. The Blue Knights have lost in the L quarterfinals to East Hartford (2018,
’17), Ridgefield (2016) and Darien (2015).
In their boys volleyball history, the Blue Knights have won just one Class L state title (2010 over Staples), while being L runners-up in 2007, ’08, ’09 and
’14.
While they have accomplished much this season, there are still many goals out there for the Blue Knights to reach.
FINE PERFORMANCES
Newtown (16-0): The Nighthawks are the state’s only other unbeaten boys volleyball team (besides Southington). After sweeping Shelton last Monday, Newtown beat Joel Barlow (3-0 for the second time) at home last Wednesday. To close out the regular season, the Nighthawks are at Oxford (Monday) and home with Kolbe Cathedral (Friday) and Lewis Mills (May
21).
Joel Barlow (14-2): The Falcons —14-2, ranked No.
2 Class M heading into Friday night’s home match with Shelton — had built a
12-match win streak with just eight sets lost before falling last Wednesday to Newtown.
Darien (15-1): The Blue Wave were owners of a
15-match win streak heading into Friday night’s meeting with Ludlowe. More impressively, Darien has won 45 straight sets since its 3-2 season-opening road loss at Newtown on March 30.
MATCHES TO WATCH
Joel Barlow at Darien: Thursday, 5:30 p.m.: A great non-league matchup as both sides prepare for an arduous postseason on both the league and state level. Barlow is Class M while Darien is Class L so neither side has to worry about giving out trade secrets to be used against them in state tourney action.
Staples at Danbury: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.: The FCIAC West Division rivals close out the regular season. Danbury looks for revenge for its 3-0 loss to the Wreckers on May 3. Staples has won four in a row since suffering its lone loss this year to Darien on May 1.