It was a strong, competitive season for boys’ volleyball this year, highlighted by New Canaan’s Rams winning the school’s first FCIAC championship and then winning three more matches to advance to the championship match of the Class M state tournament.
The third-seeded Rams won the last two sets to secure a 3-1 victory over No. 1 seed Staples in the 2025 FCIAC Boys Volleyball Tournament championship match on May 29 at Stamford High School’s Paul Kuczo Gymnasium.
It was a thrilling, very good match as the Staples Wreckers had two opportunities where they were one point away from setting up a fifth set when they had leads of 24-22 and 26-25 in the fourth set before the resilient Rams rallied back and won their initial conference title by the scores of 27-25, 12-25, 25-19, 28-26.
Coach Amy Warren’s New Canaan Rams were also seeded third in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class M Boys Volleyball Tournament. They achieved a 20-win season with their 3-2 semifinal victory over No. 2 seed Masuk by the scores of 23-25, 25-23, 27-25, 19-25, 15-10.
New Canaan finished 20-4 overall after its 3-1 loss to No. 1 seed Joel Barlow (25-20, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22) in the state Class M tournament final.
The FCIAC was balanced and strong among the higher-seeded teams in the conference tournament.
After a 2-2 start to the season for New Canaan, including a 3-1 loss at Joel Barlow, the Rams won 18 of their last 20 matches.
They dropped to 2-2 with a 3-1 loss at Trumbull on April 17. The Rams then embarked on a 12-match winning streak which came to an end when the host Staples Wreckers defeated New Canaan, 3-1, in the last match of the regular season on May 21 in which Staples secured the No. 1 seed in the FCIAC tournament.
Staples and Trumbull both finished 13-1 in the final FCIAC standings and were 1-1 against each other during the regular season.
The Staples Wreckers evened the score in the rematch with their 3-0 victory on their own court on May 3 and that was the designated conference game so that earned them the No. 1 seed in the FCIAC tourney.
New Canaan and Stamford both had 12-2 conference records. New Canaan’s 3-1 home victory over Stamford in the regular season resulted in the Rams being seeded No. 3 and Stamford No. 4.
Darien (10-4 in the FCIAC) was seeded No. 5 and followed by defending FCIAC champion and No. 6 seed Ridgefield (9-5), No. 7 seed Bridgeport Central (7-7), and No. 8 seed Greenwich (5-9).
New Canaan opened up FCIAC tournament play with a 3-0 quarterfinal victory over Ridgefield and then the Rams prevailed with a hard-fought 3-2 semifinal victory over Trumbull.
Staples advanced to the conference championship with a pair of 3-0 shutout victories, against Greenwich in the quarterfinals and then against Stamford in the semifinals.
Also in the first round: Stamford defeated Darien, 3-1, and Trumbull shut out Bridgeport Central, 3-0.
Trumbull was seeded No. 2 in the CIAC Class L Boys Volleyball Tournament and the Eagles advanced to the semifinals, where they were eliminated by eventual champion Maloney by a 3-1 margin.
Maloney, seeded No. 3, defeated top-seeded Conard, 3-2, in the championship match. Staples and Darien were both victorious in the second round before being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
There were three FCIAC players who received the highest postseason honors possible.
A pair of New Canaan juniors, outside hitter Nolan McLaughlin and setter Dylan Ho, and Trumbull’s senior hitter Aryan Gautam were selected to both the 2025 All-FCIAC Boys Volleyball First Team and 2025 GametimeCT All-State Boys Volleyball First Team.
McLaughlin, who had an excellent all-around match hitting, serving, and defensively in New Canaan’s 3-1 victory over Staples in the FCIAC tournament final, led the team with 320 kills and he also had 171 digs.
McLaughlin was also outstanding in the Class L state tournament with a combined 44 kills in the last two matches, including 24 kills in New Canaan’s 3-2 semifinal victory over Masuk.
Ho racked up 729 assists and he also was a strong presence at the net with 64 kills and a team-leading 45 blocks. Last year Ho was selected to the 2024 All-FCIAC Third Team.
Gautam, who made the 2024 All-FCIAC Second Team, was ranked No. 4 in the state with his 309 kills during the regular season and he also contributed 43 blocks and 141 digs.
This year’s All-FCIAC honorees consisted of eight players on both the first team and second team, nine players on the third team, and 15 players who were honorable mention. The GametimeCT all-state teams consisted of 12 players on the first team, second team, and honorable mention.
Pierce Brown and Brian Divino of Staples, Stamford’s John Thomas, Darien’s Thomas Herget, and Trumbull’s Dean Chamberlin were the other five players who joined McLaughlin, Ho and Gautam on the All-FCIAC First Team.
Brown and Thomas were both selected to the GametimeCT All-State Second Team and Herget was GametimeCT All-State Honorable Mention. Last year Herget made the all-state second team and Brown was all-state honorable mention.
New Canaan’s Saivinish Akavaramu, who scored the last point of the match with his kill that clinched the Rams their FCIAC tile, was picked to the All-FCIAC Second Team and GametimeCT All-State Second Team.
Alec Antipuesto and MD Arfat Chowdhury of Stamford, Trumbull’s Aarav Modi, Bridgeport Central’s Malik Denton, Darien’s Jack Wheeler, Staples’ Will Stoutenburg, and Greenwich’s Hiro Sibble were the seven other players selected to the All-FCIAC Second Team.
The nine players chosen to the All-FCIAC Third Team were Will McKerracher and John Santos of Ridgefield, Johany Benavides and Tiago Morales of Norwalk, Darien’s Jackson Miller, Danbury’s Andrew George, Fairfield Ludlowe’s Chase McCormack, Trumbull’s Owen Tosh, and St. Joseph’s Connor McTigue.
The 15 FCIAC teams each had one player who made All-FCIAC Boys Volleyball Honorable Mention.
Those players were Tin Nguyen of Bridgeport Central, Julio Goitia of Brien McMahon, Angel Velastegui of Danbury, Robert Garcia of Darien, Guy Julavits of Fairfield Ludlowe, Alex DeLuca of Fairfield Warde, Logan Jaycox of Greenwich, Mason Park of New Canaan, Konstantinos Papakosmas of Norwalk, Finn Baudendistel of Ridgefield, Mariano Mallozzi of St. Joseph, Ethan Taylor of Stamford, Ryan Tzou of Staples, Isaiah Vega of Trumbull, and Chris Coronel of Westhill.