Bellringers Advance in Girls' Volleyball

After receiving a first-round bye in the Class S tournament, the East Hampton girls’ volleyball team got down to business on Saturday by hosting Holy Cross-Waterbury.

The Bellringers won, 25-19, 21-25, 25-13, 25-22 to advance to the quarterfinal round. It wasn’t easy, but tournament games are not supposed to be.

East Hampton coach John Post pointed to his defense as a key to the match.

“It’s very difficult to put the ball away against us.” he said. “My middles … Jules [Julianne Toce] was phenomenal at the net. Lauren Randall, who hasn’t been seeing too much time lately, played great today. You take out the second game, I think all around we played very, very well against a pretty good team.”

The 11-seed Crusaders were 13-5 in the regular season before a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in the NVL championship game. They bounced back by crushing Putnam in the first round of the state tournament, losing only 14 points in three sets.

The Bellringers, too, had lost in their conference tournament title game a week ago. If there were any lingering effects, it didn’t show. After a first-round bye in the states, Post likes how the girls responded, and with this being the postseason where a tougher mind-set is needed to deal with the added pressure, he thinks his team showed they are ready.

“Absolutely. I think we’re starting to learn how to win in those situations,” Post said. “We talked about the Morgan game, the championship, where I don’t think we were right there where [Morgan is], in terms of being able to win at that time of year, but I think we’re getting there. I think a win like today was big for us. To have that kind of a match, that’s good for us. I like playing good teams. We rose to the occasion today.

“That’s not a five-loss team.”

Julianne Toce had 11 kills and Andrea Nease had 10 for the Bellringers. Marissa Morassini had 25 assists and Ashley Chasse 27 digs.

Next up for East Hampton is a trip to No. 3 seed Terryville (18-0) on Monday. The Berkshire League champs advanced with a 3-0 victory over No. 14 Goodwin Tech on Saturday.

Anna DuPaul had 14 kills and 10 digs and Liz Haylette had 12 kills for the Kangaroos, who won 25-21, 25-17, and 25-22.

When the pairings came out, the path to the title couldn’t have been more difficult for the No. 6 Bellringers. The Kangaroos are the first of three unbeaten teams they potentially could play, with Coventry and Morgan the others. It is a challenge many teams might dread rather than embrace.

Not Post.

“I want to play a Morgan every night,” said Post, recalling what he had told Patch earlier this season after defeating a winless Hyde team. “I got what I wished for.”