Granby Volleyball Makes First Round Exit to New Fairfield

girls volleyball head coach David Sprowson refused to blame a long layoff for his team’s 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 15-25, 25-17) loss to New Fairfield in the first round of the state Class M tournament Thursday evening.

Indeed, despite the No. 15 Bears (9-8) not having played since Oct. 28 - or 12 days - Sprowson credited the 18th-seeded Rebels’ solid play rather than the rust his team accumulated from having nearly two weeks off as a result of massive power outages experienced in town.

“What I told the girls is there is no excuses in the end,” Sprowson said. “We knew where we sat with this. We came back [to school on Nov. 9] and they were all eager to play. We looked good yesterday in practice. Obviously we hadn’t been continuing on day after day. But we’ve been preparing all season for this, not just for a week and a half. [New Fairfield is] a strong team and we fought hard against them.”

But while Sprowson declined to use the time away from the court as an excuse, it was clear that the Bears weren’t as sharp as they normally would be.

Granby fell behind 2-0 before awakening in the third set to draw within 2-1 before New Fairfield closed out the match in the fourth set.

“They still fought for it, which was good,” Sprowson said. “I told them they need to start looking at doing what they are capable of. When it was 0-2, I took it as an opportunity. I told them we have to start stepping out and go 3-0, that’s what I expect of them. And they outscored the other team 2 to 1 [in the third set]. That was big.”

Granby needed to be in top form to defeat a New Fairfield team (11-8) motivated by the prospect of facing a conference archrival in the second round.

“Granby played a lot like the high [caliber] teams in our league, like Joel Barlow, who we’ll be playing Saturday, and Newtown, who are SWC champions,” New Fairfield head coach Laurie Noreika said. “With us, what we’ve struggled with the entire season is whenever we play teams with losing records, we play down to their record. It was motivation for them that if you beat [Granby], you get to play Barlow again.”

New Fairfield, which was able to practice during the time off between the conference tournament and the state tournament, was led by Michelle Cremonini (21 assists, three aces and five kills), Sydney Monshaw (two assists, 14 service points, three assists, five kills) and Jacqueline Kanuk (18 kills, two service points, two assists).

“This was a big win for us,” New Fairfield captain Nicole Furman said. “It was a long ride, but we were fired up and ready to go.”

Lauren Holt (12 kills, four blocks), Megan Nilson (12 assists) and Heather Longley (six digs, eight kills) led the Bears, who in just their third year at the varsity level finished the year with a winning record and defeated NCCC rival Avon during the regular season.

“I told them there was a lot to be proud of still,” Sprowson said.

It was the final game at the high school level for Longley, a senior and two-time captain who helped build the program into what it is today.

“We didn’t get her until she was a sophomore,” said Sprowson, noting that Longley still has volleyball ahead of her, as she is being recruited by a number of schools to play at the collegiate level. “It was a very nice surprise, because we were still building the program and she added her skills and experience. The team really was built up around her. She has such a strong bond to the team. She’s leaving quite a foundation behind.”