Barlow dethrones Newington for first state title
HARTFORD — The Joel Barlow boys volleyball team did something Thursday that it hadn’t done all season: drop a set.
The Falcons’ incredible streak of perfection ended when Newington took the second game of the Class M final at SMSA 2520, evening things up 1-1.
How would they respond?
In this case, rather convincingly. The top-seeded Falcons promptly finished what they had started, closing out the final two sets for a 3-1 victory over No. 2 Newington and their first state title in program history.
“We’ve been talking
about that all year. ‘What happens if we drop a set?’ ” Barlow coach Kevin Marino said. “It’s not about dropping the set; it’s about how you respond to dropping the set. They came out and they said, ‘Not today, this is our game.’ ”
Indeed, it was. The Falcons — winners of 18 straight matches, including the South-West Conference championship, entering the day — took the final two sets, 25-17 and 25-20, respectively. They also won the first set, 25-16.
“This whole state tournament we said we don’t give a crap if we drop a set as long as we finish the job and win the state title,” said senior libero Aydan Kloiber. “That’s all we’ve been looking for, that state championship.”
Barlow had lost its previous three appearances in the state finals — 2015 and 2018 to Newington and 2016 to South Windsor. Newington had won the last three and six of eight.
“I give a lot of credit to Barlow. They really stepped it up today,” Newington coach Curt Burns said. “We had seen a lot of them on tape and saw a little bit of them last Monday (in the state semifinals). They’re a superb defensive team.”
Hoping to seize momentum, Newington jumped ahead 5-2 in the third set. But Barlow countered with 15-5 run to go up 17-10. The Falcons never let it get closer than four the rest of the set.
“We thought, ‘Let’s see if we can get into their psyche’ … but they responded in the third set and won that, actually pretty handily,” Burns said.
Newington (19-3) led again early in the fourth set, 2-0. However, Barlow scored 11 of the next 14 points to regain control. The Falcons led by as many as six points on multiple occasions before closing it out.
“We played our brand of volleyball: smart, strong defense, lead on our leaders, keep the ball in play,” Marino said.
“As long as we could keep a level head and play the way we play,” added Kloiber, “we knew we could beat them. We just did it all.”
Burns pointed to Barlow’s service game as a difference.
“They didn’t let you up for air, so to speak,” he said. “They just kept the serve on you because they didn’t make a lot of unforced serving errors. And we didn’t pass as well as we could’ve. … Give credit to them, they served us tough.”
Josh Akosa led Newington with 13 kills, while fellow senior Jacob Baclawski added 11.