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caption, page 5:
ECC Award Winners
Left to right: Woodstock Academy’s ECC award winners, senior Paula Hernandez (First team All-Star and scholar-athlete award winner); senior Diana Gonzalez (Sportsmanship Award) and junior Marissa Mayhew (First team All-Star) received their certificates at the ECC volleyball championship last week. Coach Adam Bottone is on the left. Photo by Marc Allard.
Fall in ECC
volleyball semis
Concern dotted the face of Woodstock Academy volleyball coach Adam Bottone following the Centaurs win over Killingly in an ECC Div. 1 tournament quarterfinal match early last week.
He knew the Centaurs were going to have to play better, much better, if they were going to advance to another ECC championship match and have a chance at a three-peat for the league championship. It didn’t happen.
The top-seeded Centaurs never found their rhythm against No. 5 Fitch and fell to the Falcons Nov. 6, 3-0.
“We’re just struggling creating consistent play. It’s almost like we’re nervous out there which is very unusual for this time of the year because it’s usually when you are less nervous,” Bottone said. “You have the pressure of being in bigger games, but you’ve worked through that over the course of the year. We seem to be inverting that. We were more comfortable early on and not letting things bother us. We’re letting things bother us now.”
Bottone is confounded as to why.
Bottone said, naturally, mistakes are a part of the game and will be made.
The problem is when it happens on a repetitive basis.
That’s what the Centaurs (16-5) are having trouble with.
Bottone had worried all along about his team’s penchant to allow the opposition to take a lead.
The Centaurs weren’t bothered by that in the 14-match win streak that included the victory over Killingly.
The Centaurs simply took it in stride and battled back.
That didn’t happen against the Falcons Nov. 6.
Fitch (16-5) took a 10-2 lead in the first set and although the Centaurs fought back, they fell short.
The Falcons prevailed in the first set, 25-18. Fitch prevailed in the second set, 25-19, to put Woodstock Academy on notice.
The Centaurs opened a lead early in the third set, but things went awry and Fitch took control for a 25-14 victory and the trip to the ECC championship versus Waterford. The Falcons prevailed, 3-0.
Paula Hernandez had 15 kills and 13 digs in the loss while senior setter Paige Audet had 18 assists and 13 digs.
Woodstock Academy struggled with some of those same things against the Red Hawks.
But something did go right. Serving has not been the Centaurs’ forte this season, but they were solid from behind the line and it helped in a 3-0 win over No. 8 Killingly (5-16).
Kileigh Gagnon had 14 service points and Marissa Mayhew (20 digs) added 13 to lead Woodstock Academy to the win over the Red Hawks.
“A big part of volleyball is the service. You don’t want to give away easy points. It’s important to get your serves in,” Gagnon said.
Gagnon had a run of six service points early in the first set that gave Woodstock Academy a 13-4 lead en route to a 25-12 victory over Killingly.
Mayhew also had a run of seven service points in the first game.
Despite the one-sided first set win, Bottone was not all that happy with what he saw on the court.
The Centaurs had to work much harder in the second and third sets.
The Red Hawks hung with the host Centaurs in the second set and trailed only 18-14 late.
The Centaurs only managed to outscore them, 7-5, for the 25-19 win.
Killingly forged a lead in the third set, 9-7.
The Centaurs rallied.
They pulled ahead with seven straight service points from behind the line from Mayhew to take the 20-13 lead and scored a 25-18 victory for the shutout win.
Hernandez had 14 kills and 16 digs. Hernandez was one of those honored during the ECC championship games Nov. 7.
She was named a First team ECC All-Star and also received the Scholar-Athlete award for the Centaurs. Mayhew was also named a First team All-Star and senior Diana Gonzalez was the Sportsmanship Award recipient.
The season is not over for Woodstock Academy. It now begins its quest for a third consecutive Class L state championship appearance.
The Centaurs are the eighth seed and hosted No. 25 Maloney Nov. 11 (the game ended too late for this edition).
If the Centaurs got past the first-round encounter, they likely will meet the team they lost to in last year’s state championship, No. 9 Joel Barlow, Nov. 14.
After that, the top-seed in the class, Bristol Eastern, will likely be awaiting in the quarterfinals.
That would be the first match on the road.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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