Hoping for
trip to states
The Woodstock Academy volleyball team is back in the final four in the Class L state tournament.
The eighth-seeded Centaurs got past No. 1 Bristol Eastern, 3-2, Nov. 16 in a quarterfinal match.
The Centaurs move on to meet No. 8 Guilford in a semifinal.
“We are 100 percent ready for this,” said Woodstock Academy coach Adam Bottone. “They have the mindset that this is ripe for the picking. I don’t think a lot of people, after what we lost last year, expected us to be here and I think the girls are using that as the motivation to prove that this program is here and here to stay.”
The Centaurs need just a win over the Indians to advance to their third consecutive Class L state championship match which will be played Nov. 23.
The Centaurs have lost in their previous two appearances.
“(Guilford) has a good outside hitter, who is a phenomenal setter in club ball, but they have her on the outside and she’s good. I hear their libero is solid, too,” Bottone said.
The odd games were good for the Centaurs (19-5) against the Lancers Nov. 16.
Woodstock Academy took a 10-7 lead early in the first set.
They extended that to 16-9 on their way to a 25-19 victory.
But like they had in their second round match with Joel Barlow, the Centaurs suffered a setback in the second set.
Bristol Eastern got out of the blocks quickly and poured it on, building a 19-11 lead.
Woodstock Academy scored seven of the next eight points to cut the deficit to two, 20-18, and tied it at 21.
Unfortunately, the energy expended was not worth the effort as Bristol Eastern prevailed, 25-23, to even up the best-of-five match.
The Centaurs turned the tables in the third set.
The two teams battled throughout with Bristol Eastern again taking a 20-18 lead. But Woodstock tied it at 23 and went on to win, 25-23.
The Lancers battled the Centaurs close throughout the fourth set and it was tied at 23 and 25. Bristol Eastern pulled out the win in overtime, 28-26, to set up the decisive fifth set.
The set was tied at 10 before Kileigh Gagnon went on a service run for Woodstock Academy to make it, 13-10.
The Centaurs were up, 13-12, when the Lancers took advantage of a miscommunication in the Woodstock defense and the ball dropped between two players to tie the final set at 13.
The Centaurs got the side out on a Lancers’ serve and middle hitter Amelia Large put the finishing touches on things. She got the ball down in a battle at the net and the Lancers were called for four hits to give Woodstock Academy the match point.
Paula Hernandez had 19 kills and 43 digs while Paige Audet added 26 assists in the win.

Centaurs prevail in opening rounds
The serves were not overpowering. But they were still very effective.
Woodstock Academy senior Diana Gonzalez stepped behind the service line at the perfect time Nov. 14 and helped the Centaurs to a 3-1 win over Joel Barlow in a Class L state tournament second-round match.
Down 2-1 in the fourth set, Joel Barlow forged an 18-16 lead over the Centaurs. But Hernandez (17 kills, 33 digs) got a key kill to get the ball back in Woodstock’s hands.
Gonzalez’s first two serves floated over the net and into the back corner and both were not returned.
Her third serve was sent into the net by Barlow. Her fourth even brought a smile to Bottone’s face. It hit the tape at the top of the net hard and just trickled over, the Falcons could not get to it.
Gonzalez would get one more service point and gave the Centaurs a 22-18 lead.
The Centaurs did let Joel Barlow creep back in, but prevailed, 25-23, when a Barlow return drifted out.
“I didn’t expect it to be easy, not by any means,” Bottone said. “There is a history here.” The Centaurs (18-5) downed the Falcons in the semifinals in 2017, 3-0.
Joel Barlow returned the favor last season when it rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to win the Class L title match, 3-2.
The first two sets saw each team catch fire late.
Woodstock used a 9-3 run to put the Falcons on the brink at 24-16.
Joel Barlow did rally for the next three points, but a service error resulted in a 25-19 win for the Centaurs.
Barlow did build a lead in the second set courtesy of the serves of Kayleigh Emanuelson and Emily Wegener who both had five service points.
The Falcons (19-5) went on to a 25-16 win.
The third set was just an old fashioned white knuckle adventure with neither team able to establish dominance. Joel Barlow led, 24-23, but could not close out. A service error by Barlow tied the game at 24.
Grace Gilmore gave Barlow another chance at game point with a kill but another error, two touches, tied it at 25. Barlow got another kill to go up 26-25 only to have Woodstock sophomore Aurissa Boardman (10 kills) tie it with a kill.
The Centaurs finally had their chance at game point when Barlow hit a volley long and the Centaurs cashed in on a Marissa Mayhew ace.
For Hernandez, it was the final match on her home floor.
 “I don’t think there are any adjectives that I haven’t used to describe her,” Bottone said. “She is a once in a lifetime player who is up for Gatorade Player of the Year again. The sky is the limit for that girl. She has made this team so much better.”
Early in the week, the Centaurs rolled to a 3-0 win over Maloney in a first-round match.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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Creeping In
The ice starts creeping in on the banks of the Little River in Woodstock. More photos on page 6. Linda Lemmon photo.

caption, page 2:


To be Inducted
Former Woodstock Academy and Killingly High head coach Robin Deary-Fillmore, left, will be inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Current Woodstock Academy and Killingly head coach, Deary-Fillmore’s daughter, Kasey Tocchio, is to her right. Behind is a photo of former Woodstock Academy gymnasts Grace Logan and Paige Stuyniski. Photo by Marc Allard.




Coach heads
to Hall of
Fame
Former Woodstock Academy and Killingly High gymnastics coach Robin Deary-Fillmore will be honored Nov. 21 as one of the newest members of the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
 “I thought it was pretty cool,” Deary-Fillmore said when she was informed that she would be inducted this year. “My brother Allen thought it was pretty cool, too, because he has been inducted into a Hall of Fame (at Northeastern University).”
“It’s awesome and definitely well-deserved,” said current Woodstock Academy coach and Deary-Fillmore’s daughter, Kasey Tocchio. “We’re all really excited for her. She should be recognized for everything she has done.”
Deary-Fillmore will be recognized along with James N. Brophy (posthumously, Bulkeley and Newington swimming); Edmund Butler (Masuk track and field); Nicholas Chaconis (Portland girls basketball); Jackie Ann DiNardo (Danbury girls’ basketball); Bill Hunt (Bethel baseball); Sandi Piantek (Maloney girls volleyball); Maribeth Sarnacki (Cromwell cheerleading) and Robert Trifone (Brien McMahon and Darien football).
A Putnam native, Deary-Fillmore coached the Centaurs from the inception of the program as a team-of-one in the early ‘90s.
Robin Cohen Moore was the first Academy athlete to participate in the sport for Deary-Fillmore.
“She came to me and said that she wanted to do high school (gymnastics) and that’s how I approached the Academy with that. She did for two or three years as a team-of-one and then I had a bunch of kids from The Academy who asked if they could compete as a team,” Deary-Fillmore said.
Deary-Fillmore started the Killingly program in 1987 and was still coaching the Red Hawks (then Redgals) at the time.
She asked if the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference would allow her to coach both schools.
The CIAC agreed and it only grew from there.
“I lucked out. I was in a very rare situation. At one point, I had six high schools all competing for me which is cool, but this is such a totally different sport. We could do it, the CIAC allowed it and I think it was the best thing they ever did,” Deary-Fillmore said.
The reason why she feels that way was it opened the door for more competition at the high school level and a sport, where athletes were generally tucked away in tiny gyms with little recognition, suddenly became much more mainstream. High school athletes could now compete for state titles both as a team and individuals, New England championships and even national titles.
In addition to coaching multiple teams, gymnastics coaches can also work with athletes year-round something that is not accorded to high school coaches such as football, soccer or baseball, on a general basis.
“I don’t understand why that is not allowed,” Deary-Fillmore said of the other sports coaches not being able to work with athletes throughout the year. “I don’t get it. Somebody having an advantage over someone else because someone trains harder than someone else. I thought that was the whole idea. I am in a different situation in that most of the higher level gymnasts train year-round anyhow. A lot of the 3-sport athletes don’t because they are involved in multiple sports.”
It took a while, but the Centaurs eventually began to rival and then overtook the Killingly program in the gym.
Killingly won its first state championship under Deary-Fillmore’s guidance in 1990 and then again in 2004,’05 and ’07.
The Centaurs began to come into their own shortly after the Killingly ’07 title.
It was a rise that Deary-Fillmore expected.
“I did because everything goes in cycles. I knew the talent that was coming there. I was lucky, I had that advantage of having an idea of who was coming up,” Deary-Fillmore said.
The Centaurs won their first ECC championship in 2010.
They haven’t lost since.
The first state championship came in 2011.
The Centaurs have won a state title every year since.
Both Woodstock Academy and Killingly won a state championship in 2012. The Red Hawks claimed the Class S title, the Centaurs the Class M championship.
“That was the most amazing thing ever,” Deary-Fillmore said.
She is still the only coach to have won two state titles in the matter of hours. It remains the highlight of Deary-Fillmore’s high school coaching career.
The Centaurs went on to win four State Open titles in Deary-Fillmore’s tenure from 2012-15 and a New England championship in 2012.
Just as important, Deary-Fillmore helped Centaurs alums Shaila Segal (Central Michigan), Courtney Osborne (Rhode Island College) and Bree Hussong - who started a gymnastics club at Northeastern University – compete at the next level.
Deary-Fillmore retired as head coach following the 2014-15 season turning the reins of the programs over to her daughter and the Centaurs’ success has not slowed.
“She did an amazing job with what she built and it has continued to grow because of her,” Tocchio said.
Deary-Fillmore is still a volunteer assistant for both programs and the fun part is, she still gets to see many of her former athletes, some, like Hussong, even work for her at Deary’s Gymnastics.
“They all come back, that’s the best part,” Deary-Fillmore said. “They all come back to visit or they all come back with their kids. Their kids are competing for their Moms now. When I go back and see all the stuff (that her teams and athletes accomplished), it makes me really happy.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy