At the conclusion of the FCIAC Girls Volleyball Tournament final, the team that celebrated and rejoiced was the program that was truly the best throughout the regular season, the team that earned the No. 1 seed by convincingly prevailing against nearly every opponent that came its way.

That team, of course, was Greenwich High School, which authored another winning chapter to its storybook 2025 season.

Greenwich has won 22 matches so far this fall and victory No. 22 gave it one of the achievements its had its sights set on all season – the FCIAC Tournament title. Junior middle hitter Kayah Armstrong, the title matches, MVP, registered 18 kills, eight digs, three blocks and one ace for the top-seeded Cardinals in their impressive 3-1 win over second-seeded Fairfield Ludlowe in the FCIAC Volleyball Tournament final before a large crowd at Stamford High School on Oct. 29th.

The triumph gave the Cardinals their fourth FCIAC Volleyball Tournament championship. They also won the conference title in 2021, 2017, 2013 and 2010.

“It feels great, I know all of us put in so much work,” Armstrong said after the championship match. “It’s been so much fun and it’s nice to see all of this hard work pay off. We have been grinding throughout this season so that we can get to this point.”

Greenwich, which posted a 3-0 win over Fairfield Ludlowe during the regular season, topped the Falcons in the FCIAC finals by game scores of 25-19, 14-25, 25-22, 25-15.

“I’m so proud of them,” Greenwich coach Marianna Linnehan said of her squad. “Coming out strong in Game 1, Game 2 scared me a little bit, but once we started sticking back to our game plan and got it going, there was no stopping them.”

Junior setter Victoria Sullivan helped facilitate the Cardinals’ offense, recording 30 assists, while also providing stellar defense. Sullivan tallied 14 digs, three blocks and one ace for the conference champion Cardinals, who lost to Darien in the 2024 FCIAC Tournament finals.

“It feels amazing,” Sullivan said. “Last year, our team came so close and we lost in the finals, so I felt like we were able to redeem ourselves this year.”

Ahead 2-1, GHS jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set, prompting a Ludlowe timeout. Kills by senior outside hitter Aleena Jacobsen and Armstrong gave the Cards lead of 11-6 and 13-8 later in the set. A block by junior Heidi Zieme made it 20-10 in favor of the Cardinals, who soon closed out the match and secured their fourth FCIAC Tournament title.

“It feels so good, this is something we’ve worked for and something we’ve talked about all season and we put in all our effort every practice, every day,” Jacobsen said. “To get the medals and trophies, it’s so special.”

Zieme also powered Greenwich’s offense, posting 17 kills. She also helped keep the ball off the ground, adding 20 digs and three blocks, while serving one ace. Sophomore libero Bailee Dayon paced the Cards’ defensive charge, notching 29 digs to go along with two aces.

Sophomore Essa Walsh recorded seven digs and also served well, tallying five aces in the championship victory. Indeed, the Cardinals received contributions from all of its athletes in this conference final, from the players on the floor to the athletes cheering on their teammates from the bench.

“We’ve had the best team, the greatest attitude, the nicest people, we have, obviously, the best coach and it’s such an honor to be a part of this team,” Jacobsen noted.

The score was tied at 4-4 in the first set when Greenwich made a pivotal run, winning 12 straight points while opening a 16-4 lead and prompting a Falcons timeout. Walsh served an ace, while Armstrong and Zieme each put down kills during the Cardinals eye-opening spurt.

“The first set really sets the momentum for the rest of the game,” Jacobsen said. “That was our goal, to come in right off the bat and take that first set and we did. I think it instills so much confidence in us that we could do it.”

Ludlowe’s best moments of the championship match came during its 25-14 victory in the second game. The Falcons seized lead of 10-4 and 16-4, drawing a Greenwich timeout. Sophomore Rebecca Karlson, sophomore Rebecca McAleer and senior Finley Havens paved the way in the second set for Fairfield Ludlowe with strong serving, so GHS knew it had to get the title match back in its favor once the third set began.

Greenwich, which sports a sparkling record of 22-1, isn’t used to losing games in its matches. Of its 22 victories so far this season, 18 have come by a 3-0 score. Their lone loss came at Fairfield Warde on Oct. 20, a 3-1 defeat, which served as extra motivation for GHS.

“The whole season we went undefeated until Warde and I think that was a really hard loss for us, but I think that we learned from it,” Zieme noted. “I think that was the biggest thing, coming back from a loss like that. We learned how to come back from hard sets. Losing sets to Warde and losing a game taught us how to come back and I think that’s what we needed, because we needed to come back after we lost the first set this game.”

In the third set in the championship match against the Falcons, the Cardinals took the lead for good at 10-9 on Dayon’s ace. Armstrong and Zieme then began dominating at the net, perfectly placing their kills on the way to Greenwich’s tight 25-22 third set win.

“We had to stay aggressive and play not only for ourselves, but play for others,” Armstrong noted. “The whole time we had to stay hungry.”

As for being named the championship matches’ MVP?

“I’m so happy to not only represent not only our program at GHS, but also my teammates and I think it’s amazing and I’m really glad and proud to be the MVP,” she said.

Indeed, winning the third game gave GHS additional spark heading into the fourth game.

“In the third set, everyone was feeling down because we just lost, but then we remembered that we always have to cheer,” Zieme said. “That energy is going to bring the momentum and shut down the other team, so then they get in their head and we get up.”

Said Sullivan: “I think we let up a little bit, because they had a lot of energy in their stands and it can get to our heads a little. But we were more than capable of coming back and getting back at it. Our energy rose and we ran the offense more efficiently – setting to our middle, the MVP, Kayah. She’s really good, I feel like we connected more that game. She put the balls away and gave us the points we needed.”

Linnehan spoke of how dominant Armstrong is on the court.

“She’s such a presence at the net, it makes a big difference,” Linnehan said of Armstrong. “You’ve got to feed her the ball.”

Captained by senior Jocelyn Jefferson and Jacobsen, Greenwich now turns its attention to the CIAC Class LL Tournament. Seeded second in the Class LL state tournament, Greenwich earned an opening round bye. The Cardinals will play either 15th-seeded Newtown or 18th-seeded South Windsor in the second round on Nov. 6th at GHS.

“I’m really excited, I feel like we’re going to do great things and we have the potential to win states as well, so we have to keep on working,” Sullivan said.

“Our goal in states is to make it to the end obviously,” Zieme noted. “We just have to carry out what we were doing this season, we’ve worked really hard. I think we just have to keep up the things that are working.”

For even more pictures of Greenwich’s FCIAC championship win over Ludlowe, please visit: https://www.06878photography.com/girls-vollleyball-fcicas-final-greenwich-hs-vs-fairfield-ludlowe-hs-october-29-2025