Boys Volleyball Posts First Win

The Shelton High boys volleyball team scored its first win Friday night with a convincing 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25-15) victory over the visiting Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde Coop.

Senior Tom Moore powered the Gaels with 11 kills and 11 digs as the locals rallied from a tough game two loss to handily defeat Fairfield in the final two games at Murray Gym.

First-year head coach Elizabeth Plikaitis was excited to see her team bounce back from a tough 3-0 loss to Ridgefield on Thursday.

“I'm very glad with how they played,” Plikaitis said. “It is great to get our first win out of the way. We are coming off a loss from yesterday and I was really glad they kept fighting.”

Fairfield (1-1) came out swinging in the first game, taking a 9-5 lead with three straight kills. The Gaels (1-1) battled back to a 13-13 tie with sharp sets from senior Michael Michalak (19 assists) to Moore and senior Christian Santos. Senior Jeff Ehalt (seven kills) gave the locals the lead with a crushing spike off a poor Fairfield dig and senior Andrew Boretsky (15 service points) closed the game five straight serves, including two aces.

Shelton looked to take full advantage of the game one win as it jumped out to 7-1 lead in the second game, but a flurry of poor serves and hitting fouls enabled Fairfield to climb back into the game and tie it at 19-19. A pair of Shelton mishits and sharp serves from Fairfield's Sal Siciliano (12 service points) gave the visitors the edge down the stretch and the two-point win.

 The Gaels came out determined to kill Fairfield's momentum and delivered a solid wire-to-wire win powered by great defense by senior libero Michael Zini (13 digs).

Michalak got the locals off on the right foot with four service points to put Shelton up 5-0.  Kills by Moore and Ehalt stalled a Fairfield rally and kept Shelton ahead 10-7. The two seniors teamed up for back-to-back kills to put Shelton comfortably ahead 20-12. Michalak set sophomore Mackenzie Thompson for the game-winning kill in the third game.

The visitors didn't go down easily in the deciding fourth game.

Siciliano (six kills) blasted two spikes to knot the game at 3-3, but sharp serves by Boretsky and kills by Moore, Santos and junior Justin Letendre gave the Gaels a 11-6 lead.

Fairfield became its own worst enemy late in the fourth game with a string of hitting errors that handed Shelton a commanding 18-11 advantage. Boretsky (seven kills) helped seal the win with two spikes off expert sets from Michalak and Moore closed the victory with three straight service points.

Plikaitis said the win was critical for the developing Gaels, who were a little shaken by the hard-hitting Ridgefield in the season opener.

“I think they came out a little bit nervous yesterday,” she said. “The other team hit really hard at us and I think that we let ourselves get intimidated from the start. We had seen Fairfield in a scrimmage, so we knew that they had a lot of tall players and a lot of good hitters, but we felt a little more comfortable because we knew what to expect. I think the guys have also got a little bit more used to each other. The more time we get to play together, the better we are going to be.”