The CIAC website initially got it wrong, and thus, so did I… but now the truth can be revealed: Newington beat Southington in the state semifinals of boys volleyball yesterday!!!
It is, I believe, the first time EVER that a Newington High School team has beaten traditional archrival Southington in head-to-head state tournament play, in any sport!! And it means NHS is one win from its first CIAC state championship since 1982!! They’ll play either Staples or Trumbull on Friday for the Class L title.
WOOOHOOO!!!!!!
(Why do I care so much? Explanation here.)
It was an upset of apocalyptic proportions on 6/6/06. Southington’s volleyball squad was previously undefeated, and was the #1 seed in the tournament. More broadly, SHS teams have been a Newington nemesis in state tournaments over the years, defeating previously unbeaten NHS squads in the 1993 girls basketball title game and the 1999 softball quarterfinals. So this is poetic justice!! And appropriately enough for the date, the Indians have now exorcised at least some of the demons of that beastly history against the devilishly good Blue Knights. :)
Not only did the Indians win, but they did so with significant contributions from BrendanLoy.com reader and 2004 Living Room Times women’s NCAA pool champion Conor Sullivan! From the New Britain Herald:
MERIDEN — The Southington volleyball program reached heights this season it hadn’t seen before in its four years of existence.
On Tuesday, however, they were knocked off their highest cliff by a team that was a little more comfortable with the view.
Peter Kolinksy’s 52 assists led a veteran and talented Newington team into the Class L state championship volleyball game with a four-game semifinal dispatching of the top-seeded upstarts from Southington at Maloney High School.
The game scores were 25-16, 25-17, 18-25 and 25-15. …
Newington, the four-seed, showed how ready it was by dominating right from the start. A setup by Kolinsky for Conor Sullivan put Newington up 5-1 in the first game, and the Indians rarely looked back in the opener. Southington, which entered the game with a 19-0 record, rallied briefly to pull to within 17-11, but Kolinsky fed Nickolas Porrello to end a long rally and give the Indians an 18-11 lead they didn’t give up.
The second game started in similar fashion, with Newington building a 4-0 lead before Southington tried to crawl back into the match. Mariusz Kurzatkowski’s kill tied the game at five for the Knights, but Newington went on a 7-2 run from there to pull away.
An emphatic spike by Sullivan gave Newington an 18-12 cushion, and the Indians cruised home from there.
Southington ralied and won the third game, but “Newington took the momentum back in the fourth game, using a 4-0 run to take an 18-13 lead late in the game on a Sullivan ace and pulling away down the stretch.”
The article concludes: “There will be more moments for Southington, but this moment belonged to the Indians.” Oh, how sweet it is to be able to say THAT for once!!!
Again: WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!
GO INDIANS!!!!
So… who wants to bring a camera and a cell phone to the championship game on Friday, and report on it for me? :)
|
Categories: Connecticut & Newington
|
June 7th, 2006 at 8:02:02 am
I nominate Mr. Sullivan or Mr. Kolinski.
June 7th, 2006 at 9:32:10 am
I would, But again, I have a soccer game friday night. This BLOWS!
June 7th, 2006 at 9:40:33 am
i would offer too, but my best friend is coming down from VT at 6 that day…
still, GO NEWINGTON!!
June 7th, 2006 at 10:27:31 am
Where’s Dan Seremet when you need him? :)
June 7th, 2006 at 11:40:57 am
See, this is what happens with internet news, too quick to the punch, not enough facts ;-)
June 7th, 2006 at 12:59:15 pm
How ironic the game is in southington.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:37:38 pm
LOL
That will make our victory even sweeter :)
June 7th, 2006 at 1:41:50 pm
Southington is also much closer to Newington than it is to either Trumbull or Westport. If I were a fan of Newington’s opponent, whoever it ends up being, I would not be happy with this “neutral site.” As it is, I think it’s great. :)
June 7th, 2006 at 1:42:32 pm
P.S. This is the point where Brendan starts wondering how much Friday-morning flights from Phoenix to Bradley on Southwest cost…
:)
June 7th, 2006 at 3:39:00 pm
We’ll pick you up at Bradley. What time is your flight?
June 7th, 2006 at 5:18:41 pm
My God, you’d fly to watch a high school game?
June 7th, 2006 at 6:54:26 pm
I totally would, Brownie… I’m that much of a dork. But alas, despite Bonnie’s quite reasonable presumption that I would have bought a ticket by now (usually the “wondering about ticket prices” stage lasts about 30 minutes, followed rapidly by the “buy tickets” stage), they’re just too expensive ($600+) and I just can’t afford the time (would have to take a day off work, and I have a project due early next week). So I’m going to have to rely on a correspondent, who I will now be searching for.