Essex girls blitz CVU; Burlington boys edge SB to claim volleyball dynasties
COLCHESTER – The Essex girls volleyball team capped another undefeated season in dynastic fashion.
The first-seeded Hornets (18-0) extended their win streak to 51 games and snared a third straight perfect championship season with a straight set (25-14, 25-21, 25-10) victory against No. 2 Champlain Valley on Sunday afternoon at St. Michael’s College.
“I have a big group of seniors, five seniors, and I've had them for so long,” Essex coach Jennifer Liguori said. “It's really special to see them have their big day.”
Essex and the Redhawks (14-3) have matched in each championship since the sport’s inclusion as a Vermont Principals' Association sanctioned activity in 2016.
“We’ve had a lot of big wins and CVU has been one of our toughest competitions,” Essex senior Isabel Nerad said. “And this was just a really fun game and really competitive.”
Essex raced to the first set with a 9-point run after trailing 13-11 and captured the opening frame with four consecutive points.
“These girls worked so hard, staying fit and a lot of them play club volleyball in the off-season and just really stayed focused,” Liguori said.
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In the second stanza, Essex jumped out to 5-0 lead before CVU recouped and went on a 10-point stretch to take a 12-6 advantage. The Hornets used a timeout and seized 10 out of the next 12 points.
“We talked about it ahead of time that if we get down, just stay focused because we're a really strong team and if we play our game, we knew we could come out on top and be successful as long as we stay focused,” Liguori said.
In the final frame, Essex led 7-0 to start and surrendered back-to-back points just once to remain as Vermont’s royalty.
“They really showed a lot of maturity which, I'm just so proud of this team,” Liguori said.
Burlington boys caps dynasty
Top-seeded Burlington boys volleyball won five of the final six points in the opening set against second-seeded South Burlington.
The stretch run proved crucial has the Seahorses (13-1) battled to a 3-2 final (25-23, 23-25, 15-25, 25-21, 15-13) to earn their third straight crown.
The Wolves (13-4) advanced to their first title game as a program after knocking off Essex 3-1 in the semifinals.
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Contact Jacob Rousseau at JRousseau@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter@ByJacobRousseau.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont H.S. volleyball: Essex girls, Burlington boys claim dynasties
