No. 6 Farmington spikers continue mastery of Avon with a 3-1 victory

Avon’s leading hitter, Emily Dempsey, puts down a spike in Wednesday’s CCC match against Farmington. The host Indians prevailed, 3-1.

FARMINGTON, Oct. 3 – The Avon High girls volleyball team doesn’t look for easy wins. They look to get challenged.

They don’t have to look too far. There are two teams in the top 10 coaches poll in their own Central Connecticut Conference West division – No. 2 Southington and No. 6 Farmington.

Each of Avon’s next four opponents – Tolland, Granby, Southington and No. 1 Woodstock Academy — have at least eight wins.

“It’s a tough October for us but we like it tough,” said Avon’s long-time coach Curt Burns, who is in his 31^st season behind the bench for the Falcons. “We want to get better.”

Avon (7-2) dropped their second game of the season Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss to Farmington, 25-22, 25-18, 18-25, 25-18. The Indians (8-2) have won 11 consecutive matches against Avon, dating back to 2009.

Avon’s Sarah Jacobs pushes a ball over the net in Wednesday’s CCC match with rival Farmington.

“There are always those runs that Farmington gets on us,” Burns said. “We try to avoid them but they keep getting them. We battled back and nearly stole the first game. Then, we got down 0-2. But we had the (poise) to win game three. We were doing OK in game four and then I look up and we were trailing.”

Junior Baylee Braun, in her first game after injuring her ankle about a week ago, had a team-high 16 kills and 18 digs while Avon’s leading hitter, junior Emily Dempsey, had 13 kills and 16 digs. Junior setter Abbe St. Onge had a team-leading 26 assists and four blocks.

Junior Sarah Jacobs had three kills while sophomore Eliza Jones had three blocks. Junior libero Noelle Powers had 25 digs.

“At one point everyone on the floor for Avon was an underclassmen,” Burns said. “That bodes well for the future but we still want to win this year.”

“We didn’t have it tonight but we’re getting better,” he said. “Obviously, this is a little setback but we can’t dwell on this.”

Avon hosts Tolland (10-2) on Friday before three tough games next week. Avon travels to Granby (8-2) on Wednesday and will host No. 2 Southington (9-0) on Friday, October 12. The Falcons are scheduled to see top-ranked Woodstock Academy (11-0) at the Connecticut Fall Brawl Tournament at RHAM in Hebron on October 13.

Avon senior Marissa He (4) hits the ball in Wednesday’s CCC loss to Farmington.