Brighton girls volleyball ready to make history at NYS tournament

Brighton girls volleyball has been a well-oiled machine. The Bruins won their first Section V Championship ever this fall and now turn their heads to the Class AA state semifinals.

“It feels incredible. I feel like our program hasn’t gotten enough love yet. It’s really exciting to see us go this far,” said senior Vivian Marcus. “I’ve really been expecting this since our younger years.”

Brighton went 15-2 in the regular season and then upset top-seeded Penfield in five sets to win their first sectional brick.

“I have no words for it. It was absolutely amazing,” said Brighton head coach Andrew Guthrie. “Best match I’ve ever seen.”

“It was surreal honestly,” Marcus said. “I mean we were expecting it from the start of the season. We were all talking to together. We were like, we are going to be the talk of this town. We are going to make this happen. We are going to work to manifest this every practice, every game. We are going to make this happen.”

And just last Saturday, the Bruins beat Williamsville North to punch their ticket to the final four.

“I knew that we were going to make it this year just because of all the players on our team,” said junior Carly Giebel. “All of our amazing hitters, our amazing defense, our fantastic setter. I just knew we had the work ethic and the energy to do so.”

“It was definitely a tough match,” said senior Lucrezia Pavan. “I mean, they were a great team hitting and defensively, we had watched some film on them like, so we kind of knew what to expect and we just kind of followed through like it wasn’t our best match offensively…but we ended up pushing through and winning.”

It’s safe to say, the Bruins are ready to hit Cool Insuring arena this Friday and keep this historic season alive with what would be their first state title.

“It’s really exciting,” said junior Charlotte Goldfeder. “I mean, last year we’ve had the same team, same players. But this year we’ve been stronger and more together as a family. And it’s just exciting that we’re all able to go together and just have fun.”

“There’s no word that can drive that excitement. We have an empty banner in here,” Marcus said. “Never won sectionals, never won regionals or states. It would mean everything to us to put a number on that.”

It might just mean more for this group too, as the senior class of five has been working at this goal together for years.

“I just think it was time,” Marcus said. “Everything is team chemistry. It all comes down to, are we going to build each other up in the hard times and in the good times?”

“At the end of the day, the major core has been together for four years. We’ve had some girls here for five years, some girls here for three years,” Guthrie said. “But all that experience, just playing with one another. You can’t beat it. There’s absolutely no substitute for, just that experience alone.”

Brighton will play Section III’s Fayetteville-Manlius on Friday, the Championship match will be Saturday at 6:30 pm.

Be sure to tune into News10NBC at 11 on Thursday as Brighton’s Lucrezia Pavan is our latest Scholar Athlete of the Week, we’ll hear more from Pavan, her coach and her teammates.

Fairport girls volleyball is in the state semifinals for Class AAA, Pittsford Sutherland is as well in Class A.