At the beginning of the 2024 season, the prospect of reaching the state Class M championship seemed questionable for the Joel Barlow High girls volleyball team.
Even before their first match, the Falcons had lost key starters Amanda Meschi and Val Alesi to season-ending knee injuries. What was not lost, however, was determination and a lot of work on their part.
Picking up the slack, Barlow eventually erased all doubts. Capping off a 22-match winning streak, the fourth-seeded Falcons swept through the tournament, losing only one set along the way before beating third-seeded Granby Memorial 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-17) for the championship on Saturday, Nov. 16, at East Haven High.
It was Barlow’s third state title and second in three seasons.
“At the beginning of the year we definitely had some doubts,” said Meschi, a senior who started on Barlow’s 2022 state championship team. “We’ve improved so much through the season and we’ve all worked so hard.”
Barlow breezed through the first three rounds of the tournament, sweeping each opponent 3-0 before upsetting top-ranked Seymour 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17) in the semifinals. Things started a bit slowly for them in the finals against Granby, which led for much of the first set.
Trailing 19-15, the Falcons then reeled off four straight points on the serve of Sofia Benitez with the help of three kills by Mia Roberts.
What followed was three ties and three lead changes. Another kill by Roberts put the Falcons on top 22-21 and the Falcons led for the rest of the set.
“We were just playing nervous,” said Barlow head coach Carol Conti. “We tend to do that. I feel like they just put a lot of pressure on themselves.”
The Bears also had the lead early in the second set before Barlow tied it at 6-6. Three more ties followed until a hitting error by the bears put the Falcons up 14-13. Another kill by Roberts and four service points by Ella Anderson made it 20-15 and Barlow never looked back.
With the momentum in their favor, the Falcons took a 4-0 lead in the final set on the serve of Zoriana Olexy. Three straight kills by Roberts and one by Madi Furrer forced the Bears to call timeout as they trailed 10-2.
Now with their backs against the wall, the Bears tried to make a run with some strong serving by Teresa Moody and Natalie Jones and came within two (12-10) of tying things up. However, the Falcons then outscored the competition 11-1 with kills by Benitez, Roberts and Olivia Sickinger for 21-11 lead before securing the win.
“We’ve grown so much since the beginning of the season and we’ve learned how to play as a team together more, especially after SWCs,” said Anderson, who was named MVP for the tournament. “We learned how to trust each other a lot. Once we got our momentum into the second and third sets we just played like we knew we could.”
Barlow finishes the season 24-2, winning its last 22 matches.
