Volleyball Wraps Up Season Winning 6 of 8 Matches

The Branford girls volleyball team has been playing well down the stretch winning six of the last eight matches on route to a 12 – 6 record and a spot in the upcoming SCC tournament.

Included in the six wins at the end of the regular season were five shutouts and one match were they only lost one set. The stretch included 3 – 0 wins over North Haven, Guilford, Hillhouse, Wilbur Cross and Sheehan. The only win where Branford lost a set came in their 3 – 1 victory over Lauralton Hall.

The Eagle was at the North Haven game on Oct. 11, a victory by scores of 25 – 10, 26 – 24 and 25 – 16.

“It’s nice when your team plays well enough to sweep the competition three straight. We can’t be overconfident however with the SCC playoffs and the state tournament coming up,” said coach Eva Esposito. Here Esposito talks to her team during a timeout.

Junior Marissa Minore sets up a pass as Jennifer Hwang looks on.

And Senior Adrienne DiGioia hustles to get to a North Haven shot.

It looks like Marisa Minore has four arms as she and a teammate get ready to return a shot.

Here Haley Maercklein returns a shot over a North Haven player.

Leading the way for Branford in the match with the North Haven Indians, junior Marisa Minore (pictured) had 5 kills and 8 digs, Haley Maercklein had 7 kills, 6 blocks and 2 digs and Lauren Elmasry had 2 kills, 4 digs and 1 ace.

Here Lauren Elmasry is congratulated by her teammates after returning a shot for a point.

The final standings haven’t been determined with several schools still having games to play but Branford has secured a spot in the playoffs and based on their record will host a play-in game on either Friday or Saturday this weekend at a time to be announced.

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