Trumbull High School’s girls’ volleyball team ended its season with a state championship and consequently earned the No. 1 ranking as the FCIAC had four teams ranked in the top 10 in the final 2019 Connecticut coaches state poll.
Trumbull was not even ranked in the top 10 in the previous state poll. But then coach Nicole Trommelen’s eighth-seeded Eagles won five straight matches via shutout to win the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Girls Volleyball Tournament championship and they soared to the top of the final poll.
Trumbull snatched the final No. 1 ranking by a slight margin. Trumbull and Avon each received 12 first-place votes from the 27 coaches who voted but Trumbull received 490 points and Avon had 486 points.
Trumbull finished with a 21-4 record and Avon finished 23-2 after winning the Class L state championship with a 3-2 victory over RHAM, which finished 22-2 and was ranked No. 3 in the final state poll after receiving two first-place votes.
Seymour was ranked No. 4, finishing 24-1 after winning the Class M state title with a 3-1 victory over Waterford.
Westhill, which advanced to both the FCIAC and state Class LL tournament finals, received a first-place vote and was ranked fifth after finishing with a 23-4 record.
Lyman Memorial (21-3) was ranked No. 6 while Bristol Eastern (23-2) and Guilford (23-4) were tied for seventh.
Fairfield Ludlowe (23-4) and Greenwich (19-3), the other FCIAC teams in the top 10, were ranked ninth and 10th, respectively.
Trumbull had quite the impressive state tournament run as the Eagles won 15 straight sets, winning all five matches by a 3-0 margin, and secured the first state championship in school history.
The Eagles faced fellow FCIAC member Westhill in the Nov. 23 championship match and won that by the scores of 25-21, 25-21, 25-20 to avenge their 3-2 loss to Westhill in the FCIAC tournament semifinals when Westhill rallied back for 10-25, 18-25, 25-18, 25-23, 20-18 victory.
Westhill won 12 straight sets in the state Class LL tourney to advance to the championship match, a run which culminated with coach Marianna Linnehan’s third-seeded Vikings gaining a measure of revenge with their 25-13, 25-13, 26-24 semifinal victory over a seventh-seeded Fairfield Ludlowe team which defeated them in the FCIAC championship match.
Ludlowe faced a 2-1 deficit against Westhill in the FCIAC championship match and coach Megan Skelton’s Falcons rallied back to win that by the scores of 16-25, 25-21, 13-25, 25-16, 15-9.
Greenwich, which was seeded first in the Class LL state tournament, won one match after it drew a first-round bye and the Cardinals were eliminated in quarterfinals by Trumbull, 3-0.
The six FCIAC coaches who voted on the state poll were Trommelen, Jon Shepro of Staples, St. Joseph’s Jeff Babineau, Greenwich’s Steve Lapham, Stamford’s Mike Smeriglio and Brien McMahon’s Peter Georgiou.