Greenwich High School had quite the banner year with FCIAC and state championships and a 26-1 record, so the Cardinals were the obvious choice to be voted the No. 1 team in the state in the final Connecticut girls volleyball coaches poll.
Greenwich received 20 first-place votes from the 24 coaches who voted.
Coach Steve Lapham’s Cardinals secured the final No. 1 ranking by shutting out fellow conference member Fairfield Ludlowe, 3-0, in the championship match of the 2021 CIAC Class LL Girls Volleyball Tournament on Nov. 20. Greenwich won by the scores of 25-15, 25-12, 25-17
The Cardinals suffered their only loss of the year on their home court on Oct. 27, 3-0 against Wilton, and then won their last nine matches of the year.
That winning streak included three victories to win the 2021 FCIAC Girls Volleyball Tournament championship.
RHAM, which won the Class L state championship with a 3-0 victory over Simsbury to finish 23-2, received three first-place votes and was ranked second.
There were three FCIAC teams among the top five in the final state poll.
Darien, which lost to Greenwich in the FCIAC final and the Class LL state tourney semifinals, finished 21-3 and was ranked third. Darien was beaten by only one team all season – three times to Greenwich.
Weston capped off its undefeated season with a 3-2 victory over Seymour in the Class M state championship match to finish 27-0 and No. 4 in the state poll.
Fairfield Ludlowe (19-7) was unranked in the previous poll but the Falcons surged into the Class LL final with victories over three higher-seeded teams to leap up to No. 5 in the final poll.
Ludlowe was that third FCIAC team among the top five and no other conference teams were in the top 10.
Class S state champion Lyman Memorial (22-3) received a first-place vote and was ranked sixth.
The final four teams in the top 10 were Cheshire (24-1), Simsbury (21-7), Conard (18-3) and Seymour (24-1).
The FCIAC was also well represented on the 2021 CHSCA Girls Volleyball All-State Teams which were selected by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association.
Lily Stevens of New Canaan was one of the seven players statewide selected to the Class LL All-State First Team.
Five players from the FCIAC were among the seven players on the Class LL All-State Second Team. Those conference players included Liana Sarkissian and Adele Sotgiu of Greenwich, Darien’s Leilani Gillespie, Trumbull’s Jamie McPartland, and Wilton’s Kendal Scholz.
Ava Tuccio of St. Joseph was selected to the Class L All-State First Team.
Stevens, Sarkissian, Sotgiu, Gillespie, McPartland, Scholz, Tuccio, and Darien’s Jillian Roche were the eight players previously selected to the 2021 All-FCIAC Girls Volleyball First Team.
Sotgiu, a senior co-captain, contributed seven kills in the Class LL final to help lead Greenwich to its third state Class LL championship and was selected as the tournament MVP.
The FCIAC had five of the eight teams in the Class LL quarterfinals and three of the four teams in the semifinals.
Greenwich won its first state Class LL championship 11 years ago with a comeback 3-2 victory over Fairfield Ludlowe by the scores of 24-26, 13-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-13.