Three-Peat for Raptors Volleyball

RHAM High School girls volleyball team won a third straight CIAC state title, defeating Joel Barlow in the championship match on Nov. 18.  The win was the program’s 10th state championship overall. 

For the third straight season, girls volleyball at RHAM High School has been crowed state champions. 

The Raptors defeated Joel Barlow in four sets (25-22, 16-25, 25-22, 25-18) in the Class M title match on Nov. 18 at East Haven High School, capturing the program’s 10th state championship –– with five of those titles coming in the last seven seasons.

In the latest title triumph, Lani Fecho led the way with 27 kills and a dozen digs. Fecho, who was named the Class M tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), is one of a half dozen seniors that will be graduating having never lost a state tournament match. 

When the current seniors entered the high school as freshman in 2020, volleyball was restricted because of the Covid-19 pandemic and there was no postseason or state tournament play. The Raptors still finished undefeated (13-0) in the regular season during the shortened season. 

“Winning this year is the best possible way we could have ended our high school careers. None of the seniors are playing in college, so for us to end this way was incredible,” stated Fecho. “To say that we won a state title every year we could is amazing.”

RHAM’s journey to their latest state title was a little more unique than the previous two seasons because the team had to battle their way through a loaded state tournament bracket, featuring an undefeated team and three teams with only one loss.  

In 2021 the Raptors were the No. 1 seed in the state tourney, breezing through the bracket before beating Simsbury in three sets in the Class L championship match. A year ago, they didn’t lose a single set in the 2022 Class M tourney, which culminated with a sweep of Woodland in the title match. 

After graduating a pair of all-conference players from the 2022 team, RHAM dropped three regular season matches and entered the 2023 state tourney in an unfamiliar territory as a No. 6 seed. One of the Raptors regular season losses was to Joel Barlow, who finished 18-1 and earned the No. 1 seed.    

In order to hang banner No. 10, RHAM needed to beat the top three ranked teams in Class M .

“Last year we lost a bunch of strong seniors, and the underclassmen really had to step up this year,” stated Fecho. “We were super close as a team, and I think it really paid off in the end.”

Once the tourney started, RHAM had to grind out wins over No. 3 Suffield in the quarterfinals, No. 2 Northwestern in the semifinals, before eventually avenging the regular season loss to Joel Barlow in the title tilt. 

In the quarterfinals victory over Suffield, the Raptors dropped the first two sets before rallying to win the last three (14-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-13, 17-15).

Fecho had career-highs in kills (35) and digs (39) in the marathon match, while freshman Rian Calhoun served up a career-high 36 assists. 

In the semifinals win over Northwestern, junior setter Nina Jobes shined, dishing up a career-high 48 assists as the Raptors dominated the final two sets (25-11, 25-12) after splitting the first two frames.  

Jobes continued to spread the wealth in the title match, tallying 46 assists against Joel Barlow. Helping Fecho near the net in the championship match was sophomores Meredith Weir and Cecelia Zito. Weir registered 21 kills and Zito had a game-high eight blocks to lead a defensive charge that also got a team-high 22 digs from junior Neve Tyler. 

Along with a third straight team title, the Raptors also had six players selected All- Central Connecticut Conference (CCC).  Of the all-conference players, only Fecho and Marina McLaughlin will be graduating 

​Jobes, Weir, Tyler, and Caitlin Rydel will all return following all-conference seasons as the team eyes a fourth straight title, which
would duplicate the program’s run from 2007-2010 when RHAM won four consecutive state championships.