Fall notebook: Matheson leads Griswold volleyball to perfect 3-0 week

Week 4 of the fall season featured a number of teams finding their stride at the midway point of the year.

The Griswold girls volleyball team, which had a memorable undefeated regular season a year ago, rolled to a perfect 3-0 week with wins over Norwich Free Academy, Bacon Academy, and Ledyard.

Killingly evened its record in girls volleyball by outlasting Plainfield in five sets.

The Killingly field hockey team reeled off three straight shutout wins, including a 1-0 victory over Woodstock Academy.

And the Ellis Tech/Putnam girls co-operative soccer team remained unbeaten with lopsided wins over Goodwin/Innovation and Bullard Havens Tech.

The Norwich Bulletin has you covered for what's happening this fall at Norwich Free Academy, Killingly High School, Plainfield High School, Griswold High School, Norwich Technical School, and Harvard Ellis Technical School.

Here are the highlights and top performances from Week 4:

Girls volleyball

Abby Matheson collected 27 digs, 12 kills and six aces to lift Griswold to a 25-20, 25-15, and 25-12 sweep over Norwich Free Academy … The Wolverines (4-4) were also led by Kierra Neilson (seven digs, five blocks, four kills), Bella Bruno (13 assists, six aces), and Summer McLean (seven assists, and four digs … Savannah Guernsey (six assists) had Stella Hogan (four kills) each had 12 digs for the Wildcats (8-3) … Neilson had 14 kills and four blocks, while Gretta Dombkowski and Matheson (19 digs) each had 10 kills in the Wolverines’ 3-1 win over Bacon Academy … Griswold also swept Ledyard, 25-14, 25-15, and 25-20 behind Ruby Logan (17 digs), Bruno (12 assists, nine digs), and Matheson (11 digs eight aces, seven kills) … Victoria Tirado had eight digs and five kills, Alyssa Mikolajcek had four blocks, and Taylor Roberts added 13 digs but Norwich Tech (4-4, 4-1 CTC East) fell to Prince Tech, 23-25, 25-13, 25-18, and 25-11 … Shanaya Brown had eight kills, Emma Miller had seven blocks,  Addison Montville dished out eight assists, and Grace Deslauriers collected 15 service points but Killingly fell to Windham, 3-1 … Chloe Yip had 30 digs and Montville had 47 assists as Killingly outlasted Plainfield, 20-25, 25-19, 25-10, 20-25,  and 15-9 … Shyah Baker collected 35 assists, while Miller (six kills) and Emma Rainville (four kills) each had four blocks for Killingly (4-4) … Sydney Pye had 25 assists, Sierra Madden had nine kills, and Paige Leandro and Kirra Robertson each had six kills to lead Plainfield (3-6) to a 22-25, 25-13, 25-23, 19-25, and 15-12 win over Windham  … Cydney Chapman collected 20 service points and 11 assists, while Tierra Collette had 10 kills and nine service points as Ellios Tech (5-4) swept Vinal Tech, 3-0.

More: Girls volleyball: Norwich-area Players to Watch in 2023

Boys soccer

Louis Hawkins, Logan Jenkins, and Distefano Manrique each had one goal as Norwich Free Academy edged Ellington, 3-2, in a non-league matchup …  Hawkins and Manrique also had assists for the Wildcats (4-2) … John Fitzgibbons had a goal and Trent Pichie finished with 11 saves but Killingly fell to New London, 2-1, in overtime … Hunter Giovanni notched a hat trick and Cody Cramer and Cameron Fulone each had a goal and an assist to lift Ellis Tech (4-1-1) past Tourtellotte, 6-2 …

Girls soccer

Norwich Free Academy fell to Mauk, 3-1, in a non-league matchup … Sadie Daniewicz scored the lone goal off an assist from Emily Tucker for the Wildcats (4-2-1) … Keriana Heredia scored Plainfield’s only goal in a 4-1 loss against Montville … Tori Iozzi poured in five goals with one assist while leading Ellis Tech/Putnam to a 6-0 CTC win over Bullard Havens Tech … Ava Morrison added a goal and an assist for the Golden Eagles (7-0) … Iozzi scored four goals in unbeaten Ellis Tech’s 7-0 win over Goodwin/Innovation …  Allie Calle, Lily Goyette, and Julie MacCracken added one goal apiece for the Golden Eagles … Laura Farquhar scored the game-winning goal early in the first half and Erika Horne made three saves as Killingly edged Windham, 1-0 … Molly Crabtree had the lone goal for Killingly in a 3-1 loss against Bacon Academy … Zia Lear had a goal and Hannah Service finished with 13 saves but Griswold fell to Lyman Memorial, 3-1 …

Field hockey

Sophomore Josie Sanchez scored her first goal of the season in the second quarter and goalkeeper Jill Beach recorded another shutout with four saves as Killingly captured their third straight win with a 1-0 victory against Woodstock Academy … Killingly (3-4-1) also tied E.O. Smith in a non-league matchup on Saturday … Lila Beaudreault had the lone goal, while Beach finished with six saves.

Girls swimming

Natalie Bezanson won the 200 IM and the 500 freestyle, and Sawyer Levine won the 100 backstroke in Norwich Free Academy’s 90-65 loss against Fitch … The Wildcats also posted wins in the 200 freestyle Relay (Kaylee Riley, Madison Ayer, Sofia Ayer, and Stephanie Herr) and 400 freestyle relay (Mercedes  Aleksjuka, Sawyer Levine, Catie Wigfield, and Natalie Bezanson).

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Fall notebook: Girls volleyball, field hockey, soccer teams finding stride at midway point