Coventry Camp July 13th-July17th 9:00-3:00
Hebron Camp July 27th-July 31st 9:00-1:00 (Grades 8-12)
Hebron Camp August 3-August 7th 9:00-1:00 (Grades 3-7)
HUSKY Boot Camp August 17th-August 20th
HUSKY Boot Camp August 24th-August 26th
By RICH ZALUSKY
Chronicle Sports Writer
NEWINGTON — It was hard not to notice the calm look on the face of RHAM High girls volleyball coach Tim Guernsey when calm wasn’t the word of choice to describe what was happening right in front of him.
RHAM had just completed wrapping up its second consecutive CIAC Class M state championship Friday night with a 25- 18, 25- 18, 25- 15 victory over Jonathan Law of Milford at Newington High School’s Richard E. Rogalski Gymnasium.
And with the RHAM faithful storming the floor to join in the celebration with the team, Guernsey rose from his chair, walked past the empty chairs on the bench and grabbed a cup of water.
Even though his emotions may not have shown it, Guernsey was overwhelmed with the fact that the program’s second state championship came during an undefeated season. “I told the girls that I’ll never forget the first state championship but I’ll never forget an undefeated season with a state title,” Guernsey said.
“It’s something that’s not done very often. It’s just an unbelievable feeling. I’m just so happy and proud of what these girls have accomplished.”
There were no slow starts for RHAM (24-0) on this night.
The Sachems seized control quickly as junior Tessa Smolinski, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player with 14 kills, served up three aces while Chelsea Fenton had three kills in building a 9- 0 lead in Game 1.
“We were so excited all day,” RHAM junior setter Ellie Linden said.
“The hardest part was getting to the finals. We knew tonight all we had to do was have fun and play the way we know how to do.”
And with Linden (34 assists) having one of her best nights of the year while setting the ball to numerous versatile weapons — Smolinski, Jocelyn Taylor, Kelsey Welling and Stratton — it was going to take a whole lot for the 11th-seeded Lawmen to win on this evening.
“Ellie is the type of kid that puts a lot of pressure on herself,” Guernsey said. “She gets a little nervous when she doesn’t get an opportunity to set before the game. She was phenomenal and did a fantastic job.”
Another ingredient to RHAM’s success is the fact that on defense, the Sachems never want to let a ball hit the floor at any cost.
That hard work on defense was personified in Game 3 with RHAM holding a 19-10 lead.
Linden and Smolinski kept their eyes fixated on a ball that was smashed by Jonathan Law junior outside hitter Casey Dulin, went off a block, rose high into the air and bounced back and forth several times among the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.
Linden saved it, Jocelyn Taylor sent it back over the net and RHAM would finish off the point with a kill from Fenton.
And on match point, it proved fitting that the lone senior on the roster, Stratton, won it by sending the final set by Linden into the floor.
“ Kelly has been the most improved player throughout the entire program,” Guernsey said. “When she was a freshman she looked timid and every time she did something good she looked surprised by it.
“Now look at her. The final point, it was one of those things that was just meant to be for her.”
For Stratton, the moment of finishing off her career with a hand in closing things out was priceless.
“I just didn’t think when I hit it,” Stratton said.
“I can’t tell you what was going through my mind. It was just perfect.”
By Sherman Cain, Journal Inquirer
NEWINGTON — As a junior, Kelly Stratton got to enjoy hugs and handshakes after the RHAM High girls volleyball team won the 2007 Class M state championship, the first ever for the program.
Stratton wasn’t so sure the same thing would happen in 2008. The Sachems graduated six seniors from the 2007 championship team. Yet here was Stratton on Friday night at Newington High sharing an embrace with Amy Canino, one of those graduates from the championship team of a year ago.
“Oh my God, this is absolutely amazing,” cried Stratton as she tightly hugged Canino following RHAM’s 3-0 dismantling of Jonathan Law of Milford in the Class M championship match. At the beginning of the year we had lost all those players and we didn’t know what would happen. We had a bunch of scrimmages and did well. We definitely started pulling together then. And we’ve gotten so much support, it’s absolutely amazing.”
No. 1 RHAM (24-0) beat No. 11 Jonathan Law (17-5) with scores of 25-18, 25-18 and 25-15. RHAM junior Tessa Smolinski earned Most Valuable Player honors, but it was Stratton who got the loudest cheers when individual medals were handed out after the match. Stratton, you see, is the only senior on the RHAM roster.
That bit of news is likely to send shivers down the spines of all coaches whose teams are in Class M.
With 28 consecutive wins under their belt, the Sachems appear to be in the midst of a dynasty.
“They are one of the best teams we’ve played, maybe the best,” Law coach Stacy Loch said. “RHAM came ready to play and they’re a really smart team. It was a good match and we tried hard to fight back, but we just didn’t bring our No. 1 game.”
The problem for Jonathan Law, which is 0-for-4 in state title matches, was that even if it had brought its No. 1 game and RHAM had brought its No. 1 game, the outcome would have been the same. The Sachems were clearly the better team.
If there was any doubt of that before the match, it was quickly dispelled when the Sachems, known for their slow starts, raced to a 9-0 lead in the first game.
The Sachems, remember, actually lost the first game in the semifinals to Griswold. That likely made RHAM fans apprehensive. There was no such apprehension on Friday night.
“My parents, everybody’s parents were saying, ‘Please, stay up in the first game and don’t scare us every time,’ ” Smolinski said.
Law did fight back, but the Sachems were never really in danger of losing the first game.
“The girls were very good and they were ready to go at 5 p.m. and our bus wasn’t even scheduled to leave until 5:45,” RHAM coach Tim Guernsey said. “When we got here the crowd was great and then we went out and did a phenomenal job.”
Smolinski’s versatility contributed to her winning MVP honors. She was 20-for-20 serving with 14 kills and 10 digs.
“It feels really good to be MVP,” Smolinski said. “No one else thought we could have this good of a team after losing six players. But we had good team chemistry. We played in summer leagues together and that definitely helped. I don’t know how many people thought we could do it, but we did it.”
Law had a glimmer of hope trailing only 20-18 in Game 2. That hope was quickly dashed when RHAM scored the game’s final five points. When it got to be 24-13 in Game 3, it was clear that the only thing that was uncertain was when t he celebration would begin.
“I knew we would be good this year, it was just a matter of how good,” Guernsey said. “This group works harder than any group I’ve ever had.”
Guernsey was particularly pleased with the play of junior Ellie Linden, who finished with 34 assists.
“Ellie was phenomenal,” Guernsey said. “She did a fantastic job. I know I screamed at her sometimes during the season, but not this match. She was great.”
Junior Chelsea Fenton had eight digs for the Sachems. Junior teammate Kelsey Welling added eight kills and six blocks. Junior Mallory Grosso contributed 11 digs. Stratton ended her career with six service points and three blocks.
As the gym began to empty Friday, tears and hugs were still quite visible among RHAM supporters. With every starter except Stratton returning next season, there figures to be some more tears of joy shed by the RHAM faithful next November.
Congratulations to Tessa Smolinski and Kelsey Welling for being recognized by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association for the 2008 All-State Volleyball Team.
NEWINGTON — RHAM, one of the most complete girls’ volleyball teams in the state, had an answer for everything Law served up in the Class M state championship game.
The Sachems set the tone in the first game, scoring the first nine points of the match, as Tessa Smolinski and Kelsey Welling provided most of the offense and Mallory Grasso the defense in the match to lead No. 1-seeded RHAM to a 3-0 win over No. 11 Law at Newington High.
The Sachems won 25-18, 25-18, 25-15.
Smolinski, named the tournament most valuable player, had 14 kills and 10 digs, Welling added eight kills and six blocks, and Grasso had 11 digs. Setter Ellie Linden had 34 assists.
It is the second straight Class M title for the Sachems, who finished a perfect season at 24-0.
“I can safely say we haven’t faced a team like RHAM this season, a team that can come at you with back row hitters, middle hitters and front row hitters,” Law coach Stacy Loch said. “We faced teams that were strong in one of those areas, but not all three at the same time. We had a rough first game, and those first nine points let them know what they were in for. But our girls never gave up and worked right to the end.
“We just made a few bad passes and little mistakes that added up. The girls knew that had to bring everything they had in order to beat that team.”
Casey Dulin led the Eagles (19-5) with 16 kills and eight digs, Kathleen Sweeney had 13 digs and five kills, her twin sister, Megan, added 15 digs, and sophomore Meaghan Abbott had four kills and six digs.
In the first game, the Sachems took a 9-0 lead and never trailed. A block by Law’s Chelsea Rohrig stopped the bleeding at 9-1. The Eagles chipped away and another Rohrig block cut the lead to 20-18. But the Sachems scored five unanswered points, capped by a Kelly Stratton kill, to close out the game 25-18.
RHAM also controlled the second game early. A Stratton block gave the Sachems a 3-2 lead they never lost. RHAM took its biggest lead at 18-9 when Law was called for going over the net. The Eagles couldn’t put together a significant run and lost 25-18.
The third game was close early on. Kathleen Sweeney tied the match at 7 with a kill. The Sachems went out to a 10-8 lead and a Dulin kill cut the score to 10-9. But seven unanswered points by the Hebron school, capped by a Smolnski kill, effectively put the game away with the Sachems leading 17-9.
“The girls were very geared up for this game,” RHAM coach Tim Guernsey said. “They were ready to go at 5 p.m. and our bus didn’t leave until 5:45 p.m. Our first title last year was special, but this one I will never forget. It’s not every day that you win a state title and finish the season unbeaten.
“Law had a good season. But our girls deserved everything they got. They all worked hard to get here.”
Dan Nowak can be reached at dnowak@nhregister.com.
NEWINGTON - — Tessa Smolinski thought she might have had the winning point of the Class M volleyball championship Friday night. RHAM started to celebrate and so did its fans.
But no. She had gone over the net. The Sachems had to settle down and reset.
“We just got back on the court,” Smolinski said. “We knew we had to finish it. I told Ellie [Linden], our setter, ‘Set the ball to Kelly [Stratton], she needs this last point’ and she did it.”
Stratton, RHAM’s lone senior, made the kill that won the match 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-15) over Jonathan Law-Milford at Newigton High.
“We knew we could do it one more time,” Stratton said.
It was RHAM’s second consecutive state title but its first undefeated season (24-0) and it was accomplished with a group of underclassmen.
“I told the girls, ‘You know, I will never forget my first state title, but I will never, ever forget an undefeated season with a state title,’” coach Tim Guernsey said. “That’s just something we’ve never done before. It’s not done that often. Coventry did it. It’s an unbelievable feeling.
“It was very fitting for Kelly to get the last kill.”
The Sachems lost five starters and six seniors from last year’s 23-1 team. Many were in the crowd Friday night, cheering on their former teammates.
Smolinski, who was named MVP, had 14 kills and 10 digs. Junior Kelsey Welling had eight kills and six blocks. Junior Mallory Grosso had 11 digs and Linden had 34 assists.
Law junior Casey Dulin had 16 kills and eight digs. Senior Megan Sweeney had 15 digs and Kathleen Sweeney, also a senior, had 13 digs and five kills.
RHAM started off better than it did in the semifinals, when it lost its first game to Griswold but went on to win, 3-1. Friday, Smolinski served the first nine points before Law scored.
“The girls were very geared up,” Guernsey said. “They were ready to go at 5 but we weren’t leaving until 5:45. They wanted to get here.
“They did just a phenomenal job.”
NEWINGTON — Even when the laws of physics appeared to be on the side of Law girls volleyball Friday night, fate fell squarely on the side of top-seeded RHAM in the Class M championship match.
RHAM was already on the way to defending its championship with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-15) victory at Newington. The Sachems led 19-10 in the third game. Law appeared to have gained a point back when a hit went off a Sachems defender, up into the rafters, off the ceiling, off the basketball-hoop stanchion, off the top of the backboard.
RHAM collected it calmly and won the point.
“Crazy. Just crazy,” Law senior setter Michelle Nantel said with a smile.
What else was new? Every attack the 11th-seeded Eagles presented, every way the Eagles defended, the Sachems had an answer. That’s probably why they went 24-0.
Law (19-6) did itself no favors early, though, falling behind 9-0 in the first game before scraping its way back. The Eagles didn’t hold a lead until the beginning of Game 3 and finished as runners-up for the fourth time in six years.
“I don’t think we were ready,” Nantel said. “I really thought we’d beat them. I really thought we could. “¦ We need to fight, to fight for points.”
The Eagles made a few errors, both hitting and serve-receive, in that first game. But even when they set up Casey Dulin (16 kills, eight digs) on the left side, the Sachems were usually there for a dig.
“There might have been some nerves. That’s to be expected in a big match,” Law coach Stacy Loch said. “I don’t know if anybody really expected us to get here.”
Tournament MVP Tessa Smolinski had 10 digs in the match to go with 14 kills. Mallory Grosso, the Sachems’ libero, had 11 digs, and Chelsea Fenton had eight.
“We passed the ball very, very well defensively,” RHAM coach Tim Guernsey said. “We never gave up on any ball.”
Law’s Megan Sweeney had 15 digs, and Kathleen Sweeney had 13 digs.
Loch said the Eagles tended to have a rough first game; Guernsey had told reporters the same thing about his team after the semifinals.In that semifinal round, Law got here with a hard-fought win Wednesday against Sacred Heart Academy.
That left little time to get a handle on the Sachems.
“Game, one practice, game: We weren’t fully prepared,” Loch said.
But Nantel, who had 29 assists, was more frustrated with her team’s mental approach.
“We weren’t as up as we were (against Sacred Heart Academy),” Nantel said.
RHAM built its lead more slowly in the second game, with the same result.
Loch said her team was called for more net violations than she could remember in other matches, and a few helped keep momentum on the Sachems’ side.
The teams were tied four times in the third game, up to 7-7, before the Sachems took over.
“I’ve got to give it to them,” Nantel said. “They’re good.”
Class M championship
LAW 18 18 15–0
RHAM 25 25 25–3
Records: Law 19-6; RHAM 24-0
Griswold starts fast before fading in M volleyball semis from TheDay.comWolverines win first game; it’s all Sachems (23-0) from there
by Ned Griffen
Cheshire — Griswold High School was feeling pretty good about itself after taking the first game of its CIAC Class M girls’ volleyball semifinal match against defending champion RHAM of Hebron.
Little did Griswold know that the Sachems were just getting warmed up.
RHAM took over the match and took out the Wolverines, 27-29, 25-19, 25-15, 25-16, on Wednesday at Cheshire High.
”We were all pumped up,” Griswold’s Cailin Sorder said about Game 1. “We thought we could pull it off. I think our intensity started to drop a little. We just fell apart.”
The Wolverines (19-4) were in position to win Game 1 comfortably, leading 21-16.
The Sachems (23-0) stormed back and tied it before losing.
”We don’t play really well in Game 1s,” RHAM coach Tim Guernsey said. “It wasn’t a state of panic where, ‘Oh, my God — we lost 29-27.’ It was just like, ‘All right, we have to pick up the pace a little bit.’”
The Sachems used their superior offensive firepower to spray the ball all over the court and slowly wear down Griswold. One moment, Kelsey Welling (13 kills) recorded a kill. Next, it was Kelly Stratton (seven kills). And no one had a bigger impact on the match than Tessa Smolinski (12 kills, 12 digs).
”We just didn’t play the way we did in Game 1,” Sorder said. “We didn’t play with the same intensity or the same fire. Against a great team like that, you can’t play down.”
Said Griswold coach Jamie Bruno: “(The Sachems) have a well-balanced attack. They attack from the right side, the middle, the left side, the outside. They’re just tough to defend against.”
Jocelyn Taylor and Welling, RHAM’s middle hitters, also began to take control of the net and forced Katherine Pearce (20 kills) and Sorder (25 kills) to adjust their kill attempts.
”In the beginning, I tried to use the court, use the spots that were open,” Sorder said. “They started blocking and I was forced to use other spots. Then they starting catching on and started digging.”
The Sachems might have torn though the Wolverines more quickly had it not been for the defense of Kelsey Wilcox (24 digs).
”She’s a great defensive player,” Bruno said of Wilcox. “She works hard and goes all out for every ball, every time. … She had some great digs, some great passes on balls.”
Nina Wojtkiewicz had 39 assists and three digs for Griswold and Stephanie Pollard added six blocks.
”I’m so proud of every girl that plays on this team,” Sorder said. “We really came together. By the end of the season, we were one unit. I wouldn’t trade anybody on this team for anybody else.”
N.GRIFFEN@THEDAY.COM
Link: Griswold Starts Fast
___________________
From the Hartford Courant
by Lori Riley
RHAM defeats Griswold: RHAM-Hebron swept through the Class M tournament last year, winning each match 3-0, including the final against Joel Barlow.
“Last year with sweeping the whole thing, I think they felt like that’s something they needed to do,” RHAM coach Tim Guernsey said. “That’s not us. That’s not who we are. We’re a completely different team.”
The Sachems, who lost five starters from their championship team, were a little tight Wednesday in the first game of their Class M semifinal, losing 29-27 to Griswold. But they won the next three games 25-19, 25-15, 25-16 to advance to Friday’s Class M final at Newington. RHAM will play Law-Milford, a 3-2 winner over Sacred Heart-Hamden, at 8.
“Every game, our first game is never good,” junior Tessa Smolinski said. “Then we get our heads into the game.”
Smolinski, an outside hitter, had 12 kills and 12 digs, and went 27-for-27 on serves, including nine aces. Kelsey Welling had 13 kills and Mallory Grosso had 15 digs for RHAM (23-0).
Cailin Sorder had 25 kills and Katherine Pearce 20 kills for Griswold (18-3).
Defending state champion RHAM defeated Griswold, 3-1 (27-29, 25-19, 25-15, 25-16) in the Class M semifinal to advance to the Class M championship Friday night at Newington High.
Some RHAM stats:
Tessa Smolinski: 12 kills, 12 digs, 27 for 27 serving
Kelsey Welling 13 kills
Mallory Grosso 15 digs
RHAM is 23-0.
RHAM will play Griswold in the Class M Semifinals on Wednesday, November 12 at 5:00 in Cheshire.
