RHAM is back in its familiar place ... again
Nov. 17—PLAINVILLE — Over the years through the deep runs in the state tournament, the exhilaration of reaching the highest of heights and the agony of falling just short of the ultimate goal — RHAM girls volleyball coach Tim Guernsey has seen it all.
One thing that he knows season after season — is that the most difficult match of them all is the one that catapults you into the state final.
"You never know at this stage," Guernsey said. "I always feel like this is the toughest game to play. It's the opportunity to get to that final game. And I thought we played very relaxed tonight.
"We seemed very loose, we picked each other up and just super pleased of the way they played."
Because of it, RHAM finds itself in a familiar position once again and heads to the site of volleyball nirvana.
Ally Hadley (10 kills, 3 aces), Sarah West (10 kills) and Lani Fecho (9 kills, 2 aces, 13 digs) powered fourth-seeded RHAM (233) in a dominating 25-18, 25- 12, 25- 8 CIAC Class M state tournament semifinal victory over top-seed Seymour ( 21- 3) Tuesday night at Plainville High School.
The Raptors, last year's Class L state champion, improved to 12-3 all-time in semifinal matches and on Saturday will have an opportunity to win the program's ninth state title when it faces No. 2 seed Woodland at East Haven High School at a time to be determined.
The Hawks ( 24- 2) advanced into their first state final since 2013 with a 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 semifinal victory over No. 11 seed Waterford at Haddam Killingworth.
RHAM was never threatened — quickly jumping out to leads in each of the three games.
One big reason why was its passing.
Sophomore Nina Jobes was a big part of that as she seamlessly put the ball in the right spot for Hadley, West and Fecho to put the ball away.
" We go through those drills every day, whether it's at 5:30 in the morning or in the afternoon," Jobes said. "We're getting in those same reps over and over and over.
"We talk a lot about our communication and we were on point all night. And our energy level was at a high level throughout the match. There was no drop off.
"We all want this so bad." RHAM also benefited from strong serving early.
Fecho had back-to-back aces in the opening stage of Game 1 and RHAM took control with a 6-0 mini-run as the Wildcats committed several unforced errors.
That aggressiveness on serve had Seymour playing on the defensive and out of system.
It often led to easy kills from Fecho, West and junior Alana Calhoun (7 kills).
Those kills weren't all boom, boom, boom. RHAM also used some finesse with little dinks that found open spots in the defense.
"We watched some game film and noticed that they had a lot of holes," Hadley said.
"We did a very good job hitting the ball in those spots."
Guernsey also made note of his sophomore libero Neve Tyler (13 digs, 3 aces), who dug numerous balls off the floor when Seymour senior Ari-anna Smith made aggressive swings.
" Neve was phenomenal for us shutting her down anytime she [Smith] attacked the line," Guernsey said.
RHAM used runs of 6-0 and 10-0 to put away the match in Game 3.
"For us to come in here and play that well ... it just speaks volumes to what these guys do," Guernsey said."
Follow Rich Zalusky on Twitter — @rmzaluskytc.
