Farmington Falls Short in Volleyball Finals

EAST HAVEN, CT — Two years ago, Farmington won the CIAC Class L girls volleyball championship by rallying from two sets down to defeat CCC rival RHAM. When those two teams got back together Saturday with a state title on the line, it appeared history would be repeating itself.

RHAM took the opening set and was firmly in control of the second at 17-11 when Indian coach Laura Arena called timeout. Whatever she said in the huddle must have worked, because Farmington rallied to take the set 25-23 and draw even in the match.

Unfortunately, service problems and other unforced errors began haunting the Indians, as RHAM captured the next two sets en route to a 3-1 victory and its sixth state crown since 2007.

Game scores were 25-19, 23-25, 25-18 and 25-23.

"I thought my girls showed some fight and I'm really proud of them," Arena said. "We came back in each game, but we had a few too many service errors at the wrong time which make the difference in a tight game like this."

Tournament MVP Alana Hruska, a 5-foot-11 junior, applied the finishing touches to both the third and fourth sets, concluding the third set with a successful block and securing the victory with a kill shot on the match's final play.

"[Hruska) has just been a force to reckon with and we struggled slowing her down, and that was the difference-maker," Arena said.

Hruska finished the match with 28 kills and five blocks. Anna Barry had 19 kills and three blocks, Lauren Delissio had 23 digs and setter Allie Welch recorded 53 assists.

For Farmington, Caroline Cullen and Erica Raus each had 13 kills, with Cullen adding four aces. Mary Schoennher had 10 kills, Danielle Gan had 26 digs and Ali Troup registered 37 assists.

Photo credits: Tim Jensen