Darien Boys Advance To State Championship

June 10 at 6:00pm at Xavier High School in Middletown will be the biggest game of the season for The Darien Blue Wave Boys Volleyball team, but to earn the right to be there, Darien had to manage their biggest test of the season when they faced The Trumbull Eagles in a state semifinal game in Shelton on June 8. Darien took on Trumbull in the regular season, but The Eagles were without their star Middle Hitter, Sage Gatling, and Trumbull still nearly forced a fourth set before falling 28-26 in the third. Trumbull may have been the number four seed in the CIAC state tourney, but this very well might have been the true championship game between the two best teams in the state.

Gatling had recovered from injury and was back in the lineup for Trumbull in the state tourney and was dominant in their win against Conard in the quarterfinal on June 5.

He looked like he had not lost a step in the semifinal with Darien as he scored two of Trumbull's first three points off of kills.

Darien had answers, though, with three big All-FCIAC hitters of their own -- Senior Captain, Frank Pirone, Junior Captain, Luke Bradbury, and Sophomore sensation, Trevor Herget.

The first set was fairly even to the first six points, but Darien pulled ahead 10-6 and Trumbull called their first timeout. The Eagles never really threatened and Darien went on to win 25-16. Trumbull's Gatling had a few nice kills, but Bradury, Herget, and Pirone had about as many each. The hitting game favored Darien.

Darien lost their focus in the second set and struggled to get into synch as they fell behind 8-4 forcing The Wave to use a timeout. Darien used the timeout to get focused and Senior Captain, Zarek Swetye, also an All-FCIAC player, scored on a big block on the next play. Herget followed up with four consecutive aces to force a Trumbull timeout as The Eagles fell behind 9-8.

Trumbull scored three in a row out of their timeout, but they had to earn it. Darien's Sophomore Libero, Isaac McMullin made three spectacular digs on one play. The first using his amazing reflexes on a kill attempt from point blank range. The second when he laid out for a pancake. The third on another kill attempt.

Another unforced error by Darien put Trumbull up by three, 12-9.

Both teams made incredible defensive plays, but Darien could not make any headway as Trumbull was able to maintain a three point edge, 17-14.

The speed of play was the fastest that The Wave have seen this season. This was starting to look like a championship caliber volleyball game and Darien had a good reason to be concerned as they fell behind 18-14. A kill by Pirone and a one hit kill by Herget brought The Wave to within two as Darien searched for momentum, but strong play by Trumbull and unforced errors by Darien prevented The Wave from narrowing the margin. In fact, Trumbull extended their lead to six points, 24-18, before Herget stepped up to serve an unreturnable rocket and then a perfectly placed ace into Trumbull's deep left corner forcing a Trumbull timeout. Herget served another ace out of the timeout, but a Darien kill that just missed being in bounds gave Trumbull a 25-21 win and evened up the match at one set apiece. The lost set was just the third of the season for Darien.

Darien quickly dug themselves into a 6-1 hole and called their first timeout of the third set. The Blue Wave rarely, if ever, have trailed by five points, so this would be a test of their resiliency and mental toughness. Darien answered the call. Herget served up several aces to tie the game at ten and it was Trumbull's turn to call their first timeout of the set. It was beginning to look like Darien held the edge in physical conditioning as The Blue Wave showed no signs of fatigued induced skill degredation. A kill by Bradbury gave The Wave their first lead of the set. A kill by Pirone and a hard hit dump by Swetye put The Wave up by three. A non-dominant hand kill by Pirone and a float-serve by Swetye that dropped like a knuckleball for an ace put Darien up by five. Trumbull needed to regroup and called a timeout. A block-kill by Pirone gave Darien a six point lead and the set was starting to become out of reach for Trumbull, but Trumbull rallied to pull to within three before Swetye dished a one-handed set to Herget who responded with a non-dominant hand cross-net kill.

Griffith Crouse served up an ace to make the score 22-17 and Swetye made another quick hit dump kill for a five point Darien lead. A Herget kill made it 24-17 Darien, but two kills by Trumbull kept The Eagles' hopes alive. Then McMullin put a backrow freeball bump kill inside The Eagles' ten foot line for the win.

Darien jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fourth set. Trumbull called timeout to try to change the momentum, but Griffith Crouse was unfazed and served up two consecutive aces, Herget made a kill, Crouse served another ace and suddenly it was 11-3 Darien.

Trumbull was one of the top FCIAC teams this season and they were not going to give up without a fight as they rattled off three consecutive points, but Darien answered as Swetye tried another quick dump, was rebuffed, but responded by blocking the return kill attempt for a point. Emotions were running high. On the ensuing play Swetye again tried a quick dump, but was blocked, so he returned the blocked ball by killing it for a score and a six point lead.

The Eagles took the next two points and with the score 14-10, Darien, sensing a momentum shift, called a timeout. Two Darien errors put Trumbull within two points, but kills by Herget and Bradbury and errors by Trumbull extended Darien's lead to six points and forced a Trumbull timeout. A big kill by Trumbull's Gatling, a Darien error, a good rally by The Eagles, and a well-placed Trumbull kill cut Darien's lead to two. Timeout Darien. A Trumbull error gave Darien the serve, but The Eagles answered with a point. Herget pushed the ball beautifully down the line to give the Wave a three point lead. Then an ace by Crouse, his sixth of the game, extended The Wave's lead to four. A tip by Herget put Darien up by five. A kill by Trumbull, 22-18. A Herget bomb, 23-18. A Trumbull error, 24-18. Herget stepped up to serve the game point. He served a rocket, but Trumbull made the dig, but the dug ball was sent over the net for a Darien free ball which McMullin then passed to Swetye who was able to set it on the outside for Bradbury who then delivered a devasting kill to end the set, 25-18.

The unsung hero in the match was Middle Defender, Lucas Smith. He is tall and long. Trumball had difficulty killing down the middle and were forced to kill from either side, but Smith used his agility to shuffle left or right to create double blocks with his outside defending teammates. Smith did not score a lot of points and his efforts will not show up in the stat book, but he certainly made it harder for Trumbull to score, and that is an incredibly important contribution to the team.