They have reached their final destination at the FCIAC Tournament undefeated and unmatched.

They are the members of Greenwich High School’s girls varsity volleyball team of course, a squad that’s one win away from earning a sweet repeat.

Top-seeded Greenwich, the defending FCIAC champion, moved one significant step closer to becoming champions again, defeating fourth-seeded Fairfield Ludlowe, 3-1, in the semifinal-round of FCIAC Tournament on Nov. 4th before a big, bipartisan crowd at Stamford High School.

The Cardinals, who raised their outstanding record to a perfect 19-0, will play No. 2-seeded Trumbull in the FCIAC Volleyball Tournament final at Stamford High School on Nov. 5th at 5 p.m.

“It feels amazing, it was definitely an opportunity we’ve been looking for the whole season and we’ve worked for this our whole season,” Greenwich senior captain Heidi Zieme said following the Cardinals’ semifinal-round triumph against Fairfield Ludlowe. “So, knowing that we have it actually happening on Friday feels amazing.”

Receiving contributions from each athlete that took the court, the Cardinals registered a 25-17, 25-18, 20-25, 25-14 win over the Falcons in the FCIAC semifinals, continuing their unbeaten 2026 campaign.

“I’m super excited, we’re all pumped up, we had so much energy going into it and so much motivation,” Greenwich junior libero Bailee Dayon said.

Dayon sparked Greenwich’s defensive effort, registering 23 digs. She also added 11 service points with four aces and had four assists. Senior captain Kayah Armstrong recorded 12 kills, five blocks, four digs, three service points and one ace, as she helped power the Cardinals’ offense. Armstrong noted how each member of the team inspires one another

“When one person gets a kill, it kind of hypes everybody else to do the same,” Armstrong said. “You see one ball slam to the ground and it’s like okay, I’m going to do that. There’s passion everywhere and everyone just gets so lit.”

Zieme tallied 15 digs, 12 kills, two service points and one block, providing another all-around dynamic performance to the top-seeded Cardinals (19-0) during their semifinal success.

“We put in so much work this season from our first game to our last game we definitely improved so much,” Zieme said. “We’re so excited to take all of our hard work into the finals.”

Greenwich, which was victorious against Fairfield Ludlowe in the championship match of the 2025 FCIAC Tournament, received 15 digs, seven kills, 20 assists, eight service points, three blocks and one ace from senior setter/captain Victoria Sullivan, who has a knack for setting her teammates up perfectly for kills.

The Cards knew they were facing a formidable Fairfield Ludlowe team, which posted an FCIAC record of 11-4 and eliminated fifth-seeded Staples in the tournament’s quarterfinals, 3-0.

“We knew what our priorities were,” Sullivan said. “We went into it with a game plan, we went into it knowing how to adjust our block to those big hitters, because they have a really special offense. We kind of knew to work around that and find who works best against them. So, we’re feeding Kayah, we’re feeding Heidi and we were making all the  dots connect and making sure we get the ball to the right people.”

After winning the first two sets, 25-17, 25-18 against the Falcons, the Cardinals faced some adversity in the third set, falling 25-20, one of the rare occasions they’ve dropped a set this season. Yet the Cards responded in impressive fashion and played from in front the majority of the third game.

“It was amazing, there was definitely a lot of pressure on us in the fourth set,” Dayon said. “But we stuck it out and used all of our energy on the last set and it pulled us through. It was just dig every single ball, go for everything, cheer each other on and trust each other.”

“After losing the third set, we were definitely like, this is not us,” Zieme said. “When we came out in the fourth set we were like let’s show them how we play. We had to show who we actually are and I think that’s why we came out so strong in the fourth set.”

Freshman Beatriz Lisboa Da Cunha De Freitas totaled 10 digs, three kills, 25 assists, two blocks nine service points and one ace, while teammate Samantha Tommasino, a junior, had 13 kills, seven digs, service points and one ace, as they helped ignite the Cardinals throughout their semifinal-round victory.

Of its 19 victories during its perfect season so far, Greenwich has beaten opponents, 3-0, 17 times, so the defending FCIAC champions knew they had to regroup quickly after losing the third set against Ludlowe.

“I told them right before the game if you make a mistake that’s okay,” GHS coach Marianna Linnehan said after the semifinal-round victory. “If you miss a serve, fine, make it up with a pass. If you make a mistake don’t worry about it, work on the next play. Because if you start spiraling on it, more and more mistakes come.”

“In game three, we made a ton of mistakes and you saw how that played out,” Linnehan continued. “I think there was a couple of questionable calls that our girls were a little mad about. They kind of rolled with it and took it out and kept going. They were like, this is ours.”

As always, the Cards displayed the togetherness and chemistry that’s made them an undefeated team thus far.

“We kind of work together in a sense that we know somebody is going to be behind us, somebody is going to be covering us,” Armstrong said.

“So that gives us more confidence to do what we can, so when we face different things, like oh, there’s a hard block, we’re able to recover from that and work through that,” Armstrong added.

Indeed, Greenwich was well aware that it had to be in top form against a Fairfield Ludlowe team intent on pulling off an upset win.

“Of course we’re playing all of these teams during the regular season, but the atmosphere is different,” Sullivan said. “Everyone has everything on the line and they came out 10 times stronger, so we knew it was going to be that team that we saw, but that it was going to be so much more of a competitive level, so we went in there expecting that.”

Greenwich made it to the FCIAC tourney’s semifinals by sweeping New Canaan in the quarterfinals in a match played at GHS last week. Dayon had 17 digs, four assists and 10 service points, while Armstrong notched 15 kills, two blocks and one service point for the victors against the Rams of New Canaan.

Zieme registered 18 digs, 11 kills, six service points and four aces, while Sullivan had 37 assists, six kills, five digs, eight service points and one block in the winning effort during the FCIAC quarterfinals. Tommasino (10 kills, eight digs, seven service points, one ace) and Lisboa Da Canha De Freitas (10 assists, five kills, five service points, two digs and one ace) also helped pace the Cards.

Prior to playing New Canaan in the FCIAC quarterfinals, Greenwich earned a highly competitive 3-2 road win over Trumbull in its second-to-last regular season match, keeping its unbeaten record intact. Armstrong had eight digs, 16 kills, 10 service points, two aces and one block and Dayon totaled 33 digs, eight service points, two assists and one ace in the win.

Zieme (15 digs, 10 kills, five service points, one block, one ace), Sullivan (10 digs, seven kills, 31 assists, eight service points, three blocks, one ace), Lisboa Da Canha De Freitas (14 digs, 15 assists, eight kills, eight service points, one ace), Tommasino (five digs, nine kills, six service points, two aces, one assist), freshman Charlotte Cook (five kills, four blocks, two digs) and junior Essa Walsh (11 digs, one service point) powered the Cardinals to victory.

Indeed, Greenwich can’t wait to take the floor in the finals against rival Trumbull.

“This is our senior year, so it’s definitely been a lot of fun knowing this is our last time playing as a team and a unit,” Zieme said. “The season has been really fun, we’re just trying to enjoy every single moment. Knowing it’s our senior year, we want to play like there’s no tomorrow, because it’s our last year.”

Said Sullivan: “Greenwich volleyball is just a very confident team. We’ve been playing at such a high level for so long, we’ve been there done that. We won states and FCIACs last year and we’re just hoping for that two-peat and we come in veterans to this, so we’re not stressed and we stay calm and collected and just get the job done.”

Here are more scenes from Greenwich’s win vs. Ludlowe.