Woodland falls in semis

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WATERBURY — The Woodland volleyball team ran into red-hot Seymour in last Thursday’s semifinals of the Naugatuck Valley League tournament and made a quick exit, dropping a 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-21) decision.

The No. 2 Hawks, co-champions of the Brass Division, took on No. 3 Seymour for the second time in a span of two weeks. Woodland defeated the ‘Cats 3-2 earlier in the season but dropped a 3-0 decision at Seymour that resulted in a tie for the Brass crown.

Woodland got off to a sluggish start in the rubber match against the Wildcats and never recovered, although the Hawks did salvage a victory in last Friday’s consolation match with a 2-0 sweep of Wolcott.

“Well I guess we take a bronze medal out of this NVL tournament,” Woodland coach Jim Amato said after the third-place match. “We took a lot of great hits from Seymour. Playing them three times in the season certainly didn’t help us as much as it did them.”

It was tough way for seniors Amanda Poehailos, Erin Wester, Tayler Boncal and Nicole Fowler to remember their last NVL tournament.

Woodland (18-3) swept Naugatuck in the tournament quarterfinals before being on the other end against Seymour, who went on to beat Holy Cross 3-2 in the tournament final.

“Seymour did a great job for a team that doesn’t have a lot of height up front,” Amato said.

Woodland did use the consolation game against Wolcott as a tune-up for the upcoming Class M state tournament. Brianna Pacileo had four kills and six digs for the Hawks with Lee lending 16 assists. Boncal finished with six kills, four digs and two aces.

For the second year in a row, Woodland is the No. 1 seed in the Class M tournament. The Hawks earned a first-round bye and will host either No. 16 Jonathan Law or No. 17 Stratford on Saturday night.