Canton girls volleyball fell one victory short of playing in state tournament

Canton senior setter Erin Coleman led the Warriors with 109 assists and 73 serving aces this fall. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

CANTON, Nov. 16, 2017  – The Canton High girls volleyball team came up one victory short of playing in the Class S tournament for the third consecutive season. One season after posting the best record in team history (11-9), the Warriors dropped lost four five-game matches as they finished the year at 7-13.

Canton needed to be at least 8-12 to earn an invitation to the state tournament.

Junior Sarah Bowman led the way for Canton on the court this season with a team-high 129 kills and 131 blocks. She had 28 aces serving. Some of her most dominant performances came against New Britain-based Academy of Science and Innovation in September when she had a season-high 14 kills. She had 14 blocks in a loss to Bolton in October.

Senior Katie Mankowski makes a pass in a 3-0 loss to Rockville in late October. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Junior Lauren Puglielli was second on the team with 97 digs and was second on the squad with 42 kills. She had 13 digs in a loss to Ellington in October but had eight kills in a match against East Windsor.

Freshman Mackenzie Archangelo led the tea with 114 digs and had 24 kills. Sophomore Ciara Cebollero had 20 kills and eight blocks on the year.

At setter, senior Erin Coleman led the team with 109 assists including 11 assists each in matches against Innovation, Rockville and Metropolitan Learning Center. Coleman had a team-leading 73 aces while serving.

Senior Katie Mankowski had 11 kills, 18 blocks and 12 serving aces on the year. Senior Cassie Carly had 82 digs – third best on the squad.

Senior Erin Fay makes a pass in a match against Northwestern. The Highlanders beat Canton in the final match of the season, 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-9). (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

One of the closest matches of the year was a 3-2 loss to East Windsor in early October. Canton won the first game 25-22 but dropped the next two by scores of 25-22 and 25-21. The Warriors rallied to win game four, 25-20 but East Windsor prevailed in the final game, 15-10. Bowman had 11 kills in the match while Puglielli had eight kills and six aces.

The Warriors also dropped five-game matches to Suffield, Rockville and Innovation. Canton did win a hard-fought 3-2 win over Weaver, 25-19, 22-25, 25-12, 18-25, 15-10 led by Puglielli with seven aces and Bowman with 10 blocks. They also beat Ellington, 3-2 in September, 10-15, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12.

The final win of the season came on Senior Night in Canton with a 3-1 win over Innovation, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-9. Coleman had eight digs and five assists while Puglielli had six digs and five aces.

Ciara Cebollero (5) goes for a hit in a match against SMSA in Hartford. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

Coventry wins NCCC Tournament
COVENTRY, Nov. 4 – In the North Central Connecticut Conference, Coventry (19-1, 15-0 NCCC) added the conference tournament trophy for the ninth time in 12 years. Granby won the tournament in 2016 and 2014 while the 2011 event was cancelled due to widespread power outages. The Patriots swept Sport Medicine Science Academy, playing in the tournament final for the first time, by a score of 25-14, 25-13, 25-3.

2017 NCCC volleyball tournament
Friday, November 3
Quarterfinals
Granby 3, Bolton 0 (25-22, 25-18, 26-24)
Suffield 3, Ellington 0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-12)

Saturday, November 4
Semifinals
At Coventry
SMSA 3, Granby 1
Coventry 3, Suffield 0
Championship
At Coventry
Coventry 3, SMSA 0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-3)

NCCC standings