The Darien Blue Wave rallied from a 2-0 deficit and edged the Ridgefield Tigers, 3-2, in a fantastic match during the CIAC Class L boys volleyball semifinals Monday at Fairfield-Warde High School.
Ridgefield won a close first set, ran away with the second and had a 20-14 lead in the third to push the Blue Wave to the edge of elimination. But Darien responded, rallying to win the third set and then taking the next two for the victory.
Darien won by a 23-25, 14-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-13 score.
The win puts the second-seeded Blue Wave (24-1) in the state Class L championship game for the third consecutive season. Darien will face the winner of tomorrow night’s game between No. 1 Cheshire (20-0) and No. 4 East Hartford (17-1) in the final at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 8. The site of that match is to be determined.
Monday’s match was the fourth meeting of the season between Darien and Ridgefield (21-3). Darien won three of those meetings, including a 3-0 sweep in the FCIAC final, while Ridgefield beat the Wave once.
Removing the matches against each other, and the Wave and Tigers are a combined 41-0 against everyone else.
Monday’s result ended Ridgefield’s three-year reign as Class L champions. The Tigers beat Southington in 2014, before beating Darien in the final the past two years: 3-1 in 2015 and 3-2 last year.
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