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NEW CANAAN, Conn. It's not often that the New Canaan High School girls volleyball team has boasted the same record as Darien High when taking on the 15-time state champion. But the Rams have turned heads early this season, jumping out to a 4-0 record and going into Fridays showdown against Darien with reason to be confident.
New Canaan was amped up to start the first game, taking a 20-18 lead. But the Rams seemed spooked that they might win a game against Darien, which has swept all of its matches so far. Darien scored seven of the last eight points and went on to sweep the Rams, 3-0 (25-22, 25-9, 25-12).
This team has made phenomenal progress. A lot of these girls are making volleyball their primary sport, and we havent really had that before, head coach Katie Campbell said. The girls are constantly improving, and they showed this entire gym what they can do. The girls and I are very optimistic. We just have to get used to the high level of play that we should see when we play a team like Darien.
Rams captain Andrea Mullaney played a stellar game, anchoring the New Canaan defense with 14 digs. She also added two aces and four kills.
Annie Conover led the offensive attack for New Canaan with seven service points, five aces, four kills and four digs. Kellen Tensen added two aces, three kills and 13 assists.
Despite the loss, the New Canaan players came away with even more confidence than when they entered. Mullaney said she was encouraged that the team now knows it can compete against top teams.
Ive been so incredibly excited about this season. The team has such great chemistry, Mullaney said. Its been building for the past few years. This year were just going to build on it and go upward from here.
New Canaan (4-1) will try to bounce back Monday when it hosts Wilton for a 6 p.m. match.
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