Greyhounds earn first trip to NVL final

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Naugatuck volleyball players celebrate their victory over Woodland in a Naugatuck Valley League semifinal match Monday at Torrington High School. -MICHAEL KABELKA/REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

TORRINGTON — Second-seeded Naugatuck defeated third-seeded Woodland, 3-0, in the first Naugatuck Valley League semifinal Monday at Torrington High.

The game scores were 25-19, 25-15, 25-21.

Even though they gained the sweep, the Greyhounds (20-2) had to earn the points they scored against the Hawks (17-4).

For its efforts, Naugatuck earned another crack at top-seeded Seymour in the NVL final Wednesday at Kennedy High at 7 p.m.

Seymour defeated Naugatuck last week, 3-2.

It will be the first final in program history for the Greyhounds.

Seymour knocked off fifth-seeded St. Paul, 3-0, in the other semifinal to reach its 10th title match since 2004.

“It seemed like at the end of every point, the ball dropped in our favor, but there were great, great battles in between great volleys,” Naugatuck coach Kevin Wesche said. “Both teams brought up a lot of balls.”

Naugatuck was led by Brielle Behuniak, who had 11 kills and 12 assists.

Kaylee Jackson recorded nine kills, Jordyn Hunt had five aces and eight digs, Yhana Ancheta added nine digs, and Hailey Russell tallied three aces and 13 assists.

“We were able to find a few holes, whether it was a miscommunication on their part or my server was able to just find wood on the other side,” Wesche said of his team’s serving.

Alexndra Lisowski led Woodland with six kills and two blocks. Elayna Beutel put up five kills and two aces, Amber Rosato had five kills, Kylie Bulinski added four kills, nine assists and three aces, Mary Pelkey recorded eight assists and two aces, and May Dawes added three aces.