FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The No. 1 ranked Greenwich volleyball team defeated No. 2 seed Darien in four sets. Greenwich also defeated Darien in last fall’s Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) west region final.

The Cardinals won the first set 25-20. In the second set, they built a 10-point lead, but the Wave battled back, closing the gap to just three. In the end, the Cardinals ended the set winning 25-21. At the beginning of the third set, Darien took a five-point lead and kept their foot on the gas pedal, ultimately winning the third set 25-15.

At the start of the fourth set, Greenwich was up by two and Darien had a lot of momentum coming off winning the third set. Greenwich head coach Steve Lapham recognized this huge advantage.

“I knew we were going to have trouble and once that third set got away from us,” Lapham said. “I was like ‘let it go and try to build a little. Try to get some momentum to start that fourth.’ It was a one-point battle, side out volleyball, which is what you like to see.”

Darien had the winning advantage for the majority of the fourth set, taking a 21-20 lead, only needing four points to send the game into the fifth set. But Greenwich came together as a team winning decisively 25-22.

“It feels amazing,” Greenwich senior co-captain Liana Sarkissian said. “Last year, we had the shortened season and I think we could’ve gone really far as well then. But it feels really good to play for ourselves, for this team, and for the past players who graduated who have been a part of this team and this program.”

Sarkissian was nominated as the player of the game. She had a game high sixteen kills and five blocks.

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