Greenwich Country Day School, Sacred Heart Greenwich and Greenwich Academy finished in a three-way tie for fourth place in the FAA Volleyball standings, so when GCDS and SHG faced each other in the FAA Tournament quarterfinals on Nov. 9, it certainly wasn’t surprising see the neighborhood rivals match each other set for set and point for point.

Back and forth the momentum swung, with each Tigers team having their moments in every game and when the fifth one concluded, it was the Tigers of GCDS that prevailed and moved on to the semifinals.

Greenwich Country Day School, the No. 5 seed, earned a berth into the FAA Volleyball Tournament semifinals, edging fourth-seeded Sacred Heart Greenwich, 3-2, in the quarterfinal-round at Sacred Heart. GCDS (6-4 record in the FAA) plays No. 1-seeded King School in today’s FAA semifinals. The Tigers of GCDS won the match against the Tigers of SHG, 17-25, 25-15, 17-25, 25-15, 15-5.

“We’ve been on this emotional roller coaster,” Greenwich Country Day coach Morgan Withrow said following her squad’s quarterfinal-round victory. “We graduated seven seniors last year and our team was really talented and this year we have a lot of freshmen in key positions, or a lot of upperclassmen in new positions and we never know who we’re going to be when we show up at the gym, which makes it exciting for me and also, interesting.”

“We’ve been in a bunch of these five-setters and for us to finally come out strong and be the team that we’ve practiced being was really nice to see,” Withrow continued.

Outside hitter Stella Lehmitz, senior middle blocker Anna Hill, sophomore middle blocker Alex Atkinson, freshman setter Mia Hilderbrand, junior setter Ryan Milim, freshman outside hitter Chloe Steinhardt and senior outside hitter Nikki Samios were among some of the athletes that helped lead Greenwich Country Day to victory against host Sacred Heart in this hard-fought FAA Tournament quarterfinal.

A quick start gave Sacred Heart a 1-0 lead in the quarterfinal-round match, yet GCDS recovered well in winning the second set to even the match at 1-1.

“I think the key was working together as a team,” said Lehmitz, who posted numerous clutch kills throughout the match. “I think our team runs a lot on momentum and being able to get those points, whether it’s a kill, or block or great hustle, that really fills us up and gives us that energy.”

Sacred Heart Greenwich (5-5 record in the FAA, including the postseason) was paced by junior setter Julianna Luzzi, who recorded 10 kills, 11 digs, 21 assists and one block.

“We were really excited to get to play GCDS,” said Luzzi, one of Sacred Heart’s captains. “Them being one of our close, in-town rivals is really important and we started off really strong, the energy was there. I think playing our heart out was important to us.”

In the fifth and deciding set, GCDS jumped out to a 5-0 lead and rode the momentum throughout. A kill by Lehmitz and a point by Hill later in the set, put Greenwich Country Day ahead, 10-3. A 15-5 fifth set win gave GCDS the match.

“We were all really motivated,” Hill said of Greenwich Country Day’s mindset heading into the fifth and deciding game. “Me and our other senior were like, ‘this is our last game if we don’t win and our underclassmen really respect us for that.’ We’ve worked really hard and they’ve all worked really hard for us. With it being the last game if we don’t win this set – It was a big motivator for them and they all played amazing.”

In the first set, Sacred Heart seized leads of 6-1, 13-3 and 19-7 on its way to taking a 1-0 advantage. An ace by senior captain Ana Pizzimbono put SHG up, 6-1, a kill by Luzzi and an ace by senior captain Kaitlyn Bentley made it 13-3 in favor of SHG and a kill by senior middle hitter Grace Im gave the hosts a 19-7 lead. Also pacing the host Tigers in the first set was junior Sophia Berlingo, who served well.

“The first set was awesome, we rolled and we wanted it, you could tell,” SHG coach Beth Wilson-Jordan said. “GCDS, hats off, their defense was great. They adjusted well.”

Pizzimbono tallied 12 kills, 15 digs, four aces and three assists, while Berlingo notched 10 digs, seven aces and three assists for Sacred Heart ().

Greenwich Country Day played from in front the majority of the second set after trailing early on. Aces by Bentley and Berlingo gave Sacred Heart leads of 9-7 and 10-8. A block by sophomore middle blocker Anna Rubenstein of GCDS tied the set up at 10-10. Kills by Atkinson and Rubenstein enabled visiting GCDS to go ahead in the second game.

Lehmitz pounded a kill for the final point of the second set, tying the match at 1-1.

“It felt really good, it’s always the best feeling to bounce back from a tough loss with a great win,” Lehmitz said of GCDS rebounding to win the second set. “So, it was just overjoyed.”

Sacred Heart regained the lead in the FAA semifinal showdown, 2-1, by taking the third set, then GCDS tied it up again, by recovering well in the fourth set, winning, 25-15.

“Our teamwork and trust in each other really drove us to our success,” Lehmitz said.

Sophomore outside hitter Arabella Pike had seven kills, six digs and three assists and sophomore middle hitter Paige Rigert added five kills, one block and one dig for Sacred Heart in its final match of the season.

“It was really good, this team was really close, it’s been like that for the past three years, but there’s something special about this group that makes it so hard to say good-bye to them – especially the seniors,” said Luzzi, reflecting on her junior year on the SHG squad. “They’ve all grown so much since I first got on the team.”

“No one expected us to be able to play in this game today, so it was fun to show up and support ourselves and each other,” Luzzi added.

For Greenwich Country Day, which avenged a 3-1 regular season loss against Sacred Heart, the defensive play was sensational throughout this FAA tournament match and the hitting was excellent as well.

“Stella Lehmitz, our outside hitter, was unbelievable,” Withrow noted.

Greenwich Country Day’s next challenge is tonight in Stamford against formidable King School in the FAA semis.

“I think we played one of our best games against them in years and we’re really excited to see how we do,” Hill said, as she discussed the FAA semifinal-round match.

Here’s some more scenes from the FAA quarterfinals between the two Tigers teams.