Season of growth helped Granby advance to Class M championship game

Joel Barlow and Granby players vie at the net during Saturday’s Class M championship game in East Haven. More photos from the game

EAST HAVEN, Nov. 16, 2024 – From the outside, it looked like a dominating season for the Granby Memorial girls volleyball team.

The Bears lost their second match of the season to league rival Coventry and then ripped off 23 consecutive wins, losing a game in just three matches.

Granby (24-2) won the North Central Connecticut Conference championship for the second time in three years and won the NCCC Tournament for the first time since 2016.

Yet, it was a season of growing confidence for the No. 3 seeded Bears that culminated with their second trip to the CIAC Class M championship game on Saturday at East Haven High against No. 4 Joel Barlow of Redding.

“It’s been a blast,” long-time Granby coach David Sprowson said. “We really didn’t fully know we would make it this far early in the season. We had to build a lot.

“We went through a lot of progress this season,” he said. “It was exciting to see. We are far better today than we were earlier in the season.”

It was enough to get Granby to the finals for the first time since 2014. But Joel Barlow (24-2) had too many weapons as the Falcons swept Granby for the Class M championship with a 25-23, 25-16, 25-17 victory.

Sophomore Mia Roberts had an outstanding afternoon with a game-high 16 kills while setter Ella Anderson had 36 assists and 16 digs. Sofia Benitez had seven kills and 15 digs.

“They were finding seams in our defense,” Sprowson said. “They’re a good team and they have big players. Big team. Big players. They made it difficult for us.”

Granby’s Jayne Hiatt (21) hits the ball during Saturday’s Class M championship game in East Haven. More photos from the game

Granby had leads in game one and two but Joel Barlow would rally to erase those deficits.

Joel Barlow didn’t take their foot off the game in game three, turning a two-point lead (12-10) into a nine-point lead, 20-11.

“We’ve played in championship games like this. You know the other team on the other side of the net can come back. I just kept telling the girls, you don’t have enough points,” Barlow coach Carol Conti said.

She speaks from experience. Barlow erased a two-game deficit in the 2018 Class L championship final against Woodstock Academy, prevailing in game five by a 16-14 margin.

Senior hitter Jayne Hiatt had six kills and a team-high 16 digs for Granby while senior hitter Sage Pycz had seven kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Teresa Moody had eight kills, a block and a serving ace with sophomore Cleo Kuester getting 10 digs.

“I am proud of these girls. They worked really hard to get to this point and they did a fabulous job of learning different offensive and defensive schemes and really coming together as a group,” Sprowson said. “They started realizing they were capable of more and it allowed us to have more competitive practices and more competitive games. It really showed this season with their ability to cover big hitters.”

In the Class M tournament, Granby swept No. 7 Sacred Heart Academy in the semifinals, 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-16) and No. 6 Nonnewaug in the quarterfinals, 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-16). The Bears eliminated No. 14 Weston in the second round, 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-14, 25-15).

Joel Barlow 3, Granby 0
At East Haven
Joel Barlow (24-2)     25  25  25
Granby (24-2)              23  16  17

More photos from the game