Neighbor News
Darien Boys Volleyball Program Continues To Dominate
Darien Boys look to resume their brilliance after last year's canceled season
The Darien High School boys volleyball team played host to St. Joseph of Trumbull Monday afternoon. DAF commentator, Damian Andrew called the DHS Boys Volleyball performance "workmanlike" as Darien dismantled St. Joe's in three sets 25-9, 25-1, and 25-3. Luke Bradbury was impressive. He scored on twenty consecutive serves in the second set. St. Joe's was said to be missing two players due to quarantine and had to call up players. Circumstances notwithstanding, twenty serves in a row for points is pretty amazing.
Monday's game was Darien's second win of the season. The Blue Wave boys have yet to lose a set. Darien beat Fairfield Warde on Saturday 25-16, 25-10, and 25-6.
The 2021 DHS team is led by tri-captains Frank Pirone, Zarek Swetye, and Luke Bradbury. Pirone and Swetye, both seniors, are in their fourth seasons on the varsity squad and Bradbury, a junior, is in his third season as a varsity player.
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Gavin Connolly, Griffith Crouse, Trey Davenport, Michael Dolcetti, Trevor Herget, Isaac McMullin, Will Olson, Sebastian Patrosz, Anthony Pirone, Colin Rebello, and Lucas Smith round out the roster.
Darien travels to Danbury on Wednesday in what should be a more difficult matchup. Danbury lost their season opener to perennial heavyweight Ridgefield 3-0. The Darien/Danbury game could be an important benchmark to gauge how Darien stacks up in the FCIAC and state this season. The FCIAC has produced the last seven state champions which includes Darien in 2017.
Find out what's happening in Darienfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Last year Darien was favored to win the 2020 state championship after being the runner-up in 2019, but, heartbreakingly, the season was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. One year later, Darien is back, and unsurprisingly, it looks like Head Coach Laurie LaRusso and Assistant Coach Cathryn Schara have built another powerhouse for the 2021 season.
A top ranked volleyball team at DHS is nothing new. Coach LaRusso has won a combined 20 state championships with the Darien girls and boys volleyball teams -- 17 girls, 3 boys -- including 2 girls and 3 boys state runner-ups. She has also coached the Darien girls to 24 FCIAC titles and the boys to 5 FCIAC titles. At last count, LaRusso is a member of a three Connecticut Hall of Fames and a three time National Coach of the Year. She has a record of 961-205 -- an 82.4% win rate -- and that's also pretty amazing.