Down 2-0, Barlow Rallies to Win Volleyball Championship [VIDEO]

EAST HAVEN, CT — No one would have blamed the Joel Barlow High School girls volleyball team if they settled for state runner-up status, after falling behind two games to none against top-seeded and undefeated Woodstock Academy in the Class L finals at East Haven High School.

Instead, the Falcons did the opposite, rallying to win the next two games to set up an epic fifth and deciding set which, true to fashion, carried into extra points.

When the smoke cleared, Barlow emerged with a 16-14 win to complete its improbable comeback and give the school its first girls volleyball championship after six unsuccessful tries.

"It doesn't get much more exciting than that in volleyball," Falcon coach Carol Asplund said.

Early on, it appeared the afternoon would end sooner than the Falcons wanted, as Woodstock captured the first two games by scores of 25-21 and 25-20.

"We just talked about controlling what we could control, and there will be things you can't control," Asplund said. "We can't get down on each other, and that's what we were doing the first two games. It's the first time I've seen our team break down a little bit as far as not playing together. I told them we're not going to be able to do this unless we come together and play together."

Those words got through to the Falcon players, who dominated the third set en route to a 25-13 win. The fourth game saw the Centaurs jump to a 9-6 lead, only to have Barlow run off a 10-2 stretch en route to a 25-19 win which set up the final race to 15.

Woodstock started the final set on a hot streak, building a 9-5 lead before the Falcons began yet another comeback. The key point was a serve by Riley Paradise which hit the net and trickled over for an ace, cutting the deficit to 9-8.

"That ball could have stayed on our side of the court or it could have gone over," Asplund said. "Riley's actually been one of our best servers this whole year. I have the most confidence with her on the line, so we get a lot of points in that rotation."

Barlow ran off three more points, with a Paradise ace making it 11-9, but the Centaurs hung tough to tie it at 14-all before the Falcons scored the final two points to clinch the school's first volleyball championship. Watch video of the championship-winning point below.

Kiara Robichaud, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the championship match, had 26 kills and 10 digs. Julia Mullin had 15 kills and seven digs, Paradise had 12 service points, and Kayleigh Emanuelson contributed 42 assists and 16 service points, including six aces.

Woodstock was paced by Paula Hernandez Aulet's 32 kills and 22 digs. Natalie Low recorded 13 kills and 14 service points, while Samantha Orlowski had 32 assists.

Neighboring Weston did not fare as well in the Class M finals. Despite rallying from a 19-12 deficit to win the first set by a 25-23 count, the 18th-seeded Trojans dropped the next three games to No. 1 Seymour, which won its second championship in three years. Game scores were 23-25, 25-14, 25-17 and 25-12.

"Seeding doesn't mean much in the state tournament, to be honest," Weston coach Mackenzie Robens said. "The way we played in the first set is my team. They played with a lot of heart and aggression, but for the rest of the match, fundamentals went out."

Katherine Anderson paced the Trojans with 12 kills, four blocks, seven service points and a pair of aces. Eliza Maestri had four blocks and three kills, Jordan Baisley had 16 digs and Kelly Rosemann contributed 18 assists.

Robens cited the team's come-from-behind quarterfinal victory at Granby as the season's highlight.

"We were down two sets, and in the second set we were up big and [Granby] came back and won, 27-25," she said. "My girls very easily could have just stopped, but we came back and forced it to a fifth, and won 17-15. I'm very proud of them for doing that."

Photo and video credits: Tim Jensen

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