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Harvey's varsity volleyball team’s extended season came to a close Sunday Nov. 16 when No. 5 seed Hamden Hall swept the No. 2 seed Cavs 3-0 in the NEPSAC Class C championship match at the Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford. The Cavs, who made it to the NEPSAC final for the first time in school history, struggled to keep pace with the Hornets who were firing on all cylinders from start to finish.

Hamden Hall set the tone in set 1, coming out on fire with strong serves, solid defense, and a fast and lethal offense. Taking leads of 3-1 and 13-5, the Hornets were out to make quick work of the set.  The Cavs dug in as best they could, but they couldn't cut into the lead. Hamden Hall extended the lead to 16-8, then 20-12 and closed out the opening set 25-14. Harvey served well during the set, making 14/15, but had trouble keeping the serve, as serve-receive proved to be a challenge. The Cavs’ offense was minimal with Peyton Forde garnering one assist and Maeve Lazzaro getting one kill. Forde was solid on defense with three digs and Sara Strnad added two blocks.

The Cavaliers knew they were in for a tough road in set 2, and Hamden Hall kept up the pressure. The Hall took leads of 3-1 and 6-3 and then built up a 16-6 lead. Harvey struggled with serves, missing three first serves, which limited their ability to get any type of scoring run going. Hamden Hall took advantage of that and closed out the set, winning it 25-12. Struggling to receive serve made setting and hitting a challenge, and that made scoring points tough. The defense worked hard as Forde had three more digs as did Kelly. Strnad and Kelly added one block each to their stat sheet.

Set 3 took any wind out of the sails for the Cavs as serve-receive again proved difficult for the girls and they quickly dug themselves an 8-1 hole. Hamden extended the lead to 18-4 before closing the set out with a string of tough jump serves, taking the set 25-4. Stats were light in the set with Jadyn Lurie getting two blocks and Forde nabbing two more digs.

Harvey's season ends with a few first-time accomplishments to be proud of. This is the first year Harvey tied for first place in the HVAL regular season with a record of 9-1.  Also, their overall record of 17-6, ties them with last year’s win total of 17, another school record. Finally, Harvey had managed to get to the NEPSAC semifinals the last two years, but were not to be denied this year, as the Cavs secured the school's first NEPSAC finalist trophy.

Following the game, coach Kyle Groff was asked for some comments. Coach Groff said, “As Coach Denis said at the end of the match, if in mid-August, we had said we would be a finalist in NEPSAC, we would have signed up immediately, and we would have taken it without question. That doesn't change the disappointment, but it should ease the pain knowing what we accomplished throughout the season was pretty significant." Coach Groff also said, "In the nine seasons that I have been associated with Harvey volleyball, this is the most resilient and team-oriented group I have seen." He said, "The team was led by captains Maeve Lazzaro, Casey Kelly, and Sara Strnad and four other seniors (Peyton Forde, Carissa Rocco, Talya Langer, and Lucy LaGatutta) which made for a very special group,"  Coach Groff's finished by saying, "I have had the distinct honor and privilege of working with Denis Arnautovic over the last eight seasons in coaching Harvey volleyball and I thank him for that opportunity. These last few months coaching this fine group of young women has been very satisfying and rewarding for me, a great way to cap off my coaching career at Harvey. I wish Harvey volleyball nothing but the best moving forward.”