Darien Boys Volleyball Extend Win Streak

The Darien Boys Volleyball team, led by Head Coach Laurie LaRusso, extended their regular season winning streak to 22 games with a decisive 3-0 victory over Danbury and notched their 66th consecutive regular season set.

The state's second leading Ace getter and senior captain, Zarek Swetye, opened up the Danbury game with three consecutive aces. Darien's fourth point was a kill by junior captain Luke Bradbury resulting in an early Danbury timeout. Swetye's fifth serve was returned by Danbury, but a nice dig and pass by Isaac McMullin to Swetye and a kill by Trevor Herget, the state's top hitter, put Darien up 5-0. Swetye served up one more ace to take a 6-0 Darien lead before a well-placed ball by Danbury put the ball in their hands for the first time.

Danbury served up an ace on their first serve of the game, but on Danbury's second serve, a nice dig and pass by Bradbury to Swetye set up a big kill by senior captain and middle hitter, Frank Pirone.

The state's top ace, Luke Bradbury, took over at server with the score 7-2 in Darien's favor. Bradbury promptly served up his first ace of the match giving Darien a six point lead.

Darien turned the ball over, but Herget got it back on a dump into an empty area.

With the score 9-3 Frank Pirone stepped in to serve and wasted no time serving up an ace to extend Darien's lead by seven.

A good block by Danbury and a well-placed sideline hit cut the Wave's lead to 5 before Danbury turned the ball over on an out-of-bounds serve.

Danbury managed to cut the lead to four before Pirone dumped one over the middle to give back the serve to Darien.

The serves went back and forth a few times as Darien rotated through the lineup before bringing the serve back to Swetye. Over his next five serves Darien registered a dump and a kill by Pirone and three aces to extend Darien's lead by ten. Danbury was forced to call another timeout with the score at 19-9 in favor of Darien.

The timeout was well spent and Danbury got the ball back for a point, but on their next serve a hard hit ball by Bradbury resulted in a failed dig by Danbury.

Bradbury finished off the set with five consecutive aces. He helped Darien to a 25-10 win in the set, a 1-0 lead in the game, and left no doubts as to why he is the top server in the state.

Darien opened up a nine point lead in the second set before Danbury called a timeout. Darien went on to win 25-8 and a 2 nil lead.

Darien started off the third set with three consecutive aces by Swetye, a power smash by Bradbury, and an error by Danbury before giving up the ball on the sixth point with a 5-1 lead.

Danbury picked up a couple points, but a kill by Herget made the score 7-3 and put the ball in the hands of server Frank Pirone who quickly reeled off two aces. Darien gave up the ball with the score 12-4, got it back on the next serve, and Griffith Crouse served up the next seven points giving the Wave a commanding 19-4 lead. Herget and Pirone put the finishing touches on the set with their serves and helped give Darien a 25-6 victory.

Bradbury, Herget, Pirone, Swetye, and Trey Davenport are ranked in the list of top twenty players in the state in several statistical categories. Darien holds three of the top four rankings for aces in the state -- Bradbury (#1), Swetye (#2), and Herget (#4).

Darien JV beat Danbury JV in two sets. The Blue Wave JV squad is led by college volleyball standout and Assistant Varsity Coach Cat Schara and have yet to lose a set this season.

Darien reeled off the first seven points in the first set with freshman Griffith Crouse serving. Isaac McMullin dumped the ball over the left side of the net to give Darien an eight point lead with a score of 11-3. Danbury fought back and tied the set at 13. Darien pulled ahead 22-16 and Sebastian Petrosz finished off the set giving Darien a 25-16 win.

Danbury jumped out to a two point lead in the second set. Coach Schara called a timeout with Darien trailing 7-5, but Danbury extended their lead by four. Danbury turned the ball over with a score of 9-6 and Michael Dolcetti of Darien served. Darien's middle hitter, Lucas Smith, came up with a big block which led to a Darien point and cut Danbury's lead to one. The ball exchanged hands a few times and Danbury got it back with a four point lead until Crouse set up McMullin for a kill deep in Danbury's defense.

Darien got the ball back trailing by two, but two aces by Smith tied the game at 14.

Danbury then opened up a two point lead late in the set and with the score 19-17 Coach Schara called a timeout; this time with better results as Darien picked up a point. However, a costly turnover put the ball back in Danbury's hands and allowed Danbury to extend the lead to three with a score of 21-18. With opportunities running out, Darien's Will Olson stepped up to serve -- and serve he did – with a beautifully placed ace into an unguarded Danbury territory.

Darien tied it at 21 all on a hard hit ball by Petrosz that Danbury was unable to return.

Danbury failed to score on the next point giving Darien a 22-21 lead forcing a Danbury timeout. The timeout was to no avail as Olson served up another ace.

Danbury got the ball back and tied the game at 23 apiece, but Olson again came up big. He dug the ball from the back row on a Danbury volley and placed it perfectly on Danbury's right sideline for a Darien point. Dolcetti stepped up to serve game point and aced it for the win giving Darien a hard fought 25-23 victory.

Ohio High School Hall of Fame Coach, John Cabas, had a saying, "We win the close ones because we are confident in our abilities." That was the case for the Darien JV team today. The game was close, but it was never in doubt because Darien played with the confidence that comes from having coaches who understand how to train players to become highly skilled athletes.

Darien travels to the home of rival New Canaan on Tuesday, April 20 at 4:00pm. Both teams are undefeated. New Canaan is one of the top teams in the FCIAC and will be Darien's most difficult match of the young season.

The Friday, April 16 game against Westhill was postponed and has tentatively been re-scheduled for Saturday, April 22.