After defeating Glastonbury, West Hartford’s Conard High School boys volleyball team brings their unbeaten record to the CCC finals.
Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance
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Conard players celebrate the match winner Aidan Plamondon. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
By Paul Palmer
Having a long win streak, in any sport, can be grueling. Everyone else is always looking to knock you off.
The Conard boys volleyball team has lived that life – as the hunted – all season long as the state’s only unbeaten volleyball team. “Everybody wants to beat us as we are the only undefeated team,” said Conard head coach Kerry Roller. “We’ll figure it out.”
Wednesday they were pushed to the limit in the CCC semifinals by Glastonbury, but dug deep to pull off the five-set win and move to 19-0.
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Lucas Hartland (9) and Tyler Richards go for the block on Trevor Hoffman. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
When the two teams met earlier this season, the Red Wolves won in straight sets. In fact, in the previous 18 matches they had lost just seven sets out of 59 played. But this is the post-season and that means Conard played on Tuesday, Wednesday, and with the win will play in the final on Thursday.
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Rafael Ortiz at the net for the Red Wolves. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
Fatigue is something that has to be put out of mind as focus and attention to detail have to be front and center. Things started out well for Conard in the first set as they went up by as many as four points and closed it out at 25-19. Aidan Plamondon and Henry Drolet were tough at the net, blocking multiple Guardians’ returns.
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Aidan Plamondon goes for the winner in the first set. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
The second set saw Glastonbury take a 4-2 lead, but Conard came back at 6-5 on a left-handed put away by Lucas Hartland. It stayed tight from there with each managing 3-point leads, only to see them slip away. Conard had a 3-point run to go up 16-10 and then later 18-11.
Then Glastonbury went on a huge run take the lead at 20-18. Two of the points came on blocks, another on a Conard violation, and Siddanth Nitin had a pair of kills as well. After regaining the serve, it was Hartland tying things at 20 and the Wolves went to 21-20 before Connor Payne’s block earned the point and the serve for Glastonbury. That ended at 23 each but Conard’s next serve went into the net, setting up the Guardians at set point and they took advantage when the Conard return went long and things were tied at 1-all.
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Tyler Richards (13) and Rafael Ortiz set the block. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
“We were struggling with the pressure of the playoffs,” said Conard senior Tristan McClay, who was strong at the net all day. “But we have so much teamwork that we always fight back.”
In the third set it was Glastonbury bringing the early momentum, but Conard dug deep to keep things close. Again, it was very tight with neither side managing to give more than a 2-point lead until the visitors went up 16-13 and eventually to 18-14. The Conard rally saw them come back to 17-18 before Shalva Jika’s kill ended that. Tied at 21, it was McClay with the put away for the Wolves, and later it was McClay with the return that was blocked out of bounds by Glastonbury to make it 24-22.
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Tristan McClay has the winner for Conard. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
Conard took the set 25-22 when a setup by Glastonbury hit the ceiling in the Conard gym and bounded away from the players.
“In the third set we finally relaxed and found a way to close it out,” McClay said.
Heading into the fourth set it was Conard with the chance to end the game. They opened on serve by going up 4-1, but Glastonbury fought back, winning seven straight points to make it an 8-4 lead for the Guardians. Serving at 9-5, Glastonbury benefitted from back-to-back returns out of bounds by Conard to go up 11-5. The Wolves picked up three points before losing serve and later finding themselves down four at 9-14.
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Aidan Plamondon goes low for the serve. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
Nitin again found the space and won the point and serve back for his team, and then it was a block from Maksym Balaban and then a kill by Shalva to go up 16-11.
The point of the set came at 14-16 for Conard when Jonah White went all out with a dive to get to a ball at the back of the area, then it was Hartland’s turn as he headed for the sidelines and kept the ball in play before McClay managed to hit a winner from midway back that fooled Glastonbury with its placement. One point later and things were tied at 16.
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Rafael Ortiz beats the block. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
The two sides went back and forth and White’s service got Conard up 20-19. On their serve it was Glastonbury storming back with four straight points before losing serve at 23-21. At match point it was Nitin once again beating the Conard block and tying things up at two sets apiece.
The junior let out a shout of excitement after the winner as he was being mobbed by his teammates. “We came out a little flat and it took us a while to get our energy going,” said Roller. “We just were not in rhythm.”
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Aidan Plamondon goes for the winner in the first set. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
Heading to the tie-breaking fifth set, Roller stressed one word to her players …”details.” On every timeout that was what she kept reminding her players to take care of.
Again, in the final set it was back and forth until the Wolves built a 5-1 lead before an attempt to block a Glastonbury shot knocked the ball out. The Guardians took a timeout and came out focused serving from down 1-5 to down 4-5 on Hoffman’s big left-handed return. McClay had the answer on the next point and won back the serve at 6-4 Conard. Another run for the Guardians and they had things tied at 7 before Plamondon came through with the winner.
Serving at 9-8, the Wolves picked up a point before giving the serve back. Alex Niland served for Glastonbury and at 9-10, his serve hit the tape and dribbled over, falling to the floor before any Conard player could get there to tie things at 10. His next serve went out and the Wolves were now 4 points away from the win at 11-10.
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Glastonbury players including (12) Siddanth Nittin celebrate his 4th set winner. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
Plamondon had a sparkling kill right down the line to go 12-10, but Conard’s next return hit the tape and went out of bounds giving the serve back to the visitors. Back and forth they went on serve until Plamondon put it away with a kill and the 15-12 final.
“They have a resiliency about them,” Roller said of her players. “When they get down there is a grit to them, they love the sport. At one point today one of our players told his teammates, ‘Let’s have fun’ and that settled them down,” she added.
Things will only get tougher for Conard as Thursday night they met once-beaten Maloney for the CCC title. It was Conard who beat Maloney back on May 12 to knock them from the ranks of the unbeaten.
After that it will be onto the State Tourney where they were a semifinalist in 2023.
McClay said there are two big things that have helped the team stay unbeaten. One is the camaraderie between the players, the other, he said, is the coaching staff. “We have three coaches that just complement each other so well.”
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Coaches Kerry Roller and Don Colebrook shake hands before the match. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
Game notes
- Wednesday’s win was number 305 for head coach Kerry Roller who is in her 28th season leading the boys team.
- Four members of the Conard squad were name to the All-Conference Team. There are only 14 players from around the CCC named to the list, so Red Wolves players captured nearly one-quarter of the spots. The players are: Tristan McClay, Rafael Ortiz, Aidan Plamondon ,and Lucas Hartland. All but Hartland are seniors.
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Lucas Hartland had an excellent game as Conard’s setter. Conard vs. Glastonbury boys volleyball. CCC semifinals. May 28, 2025. Photo credit: Paul Palmer
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