Dayvin Bixel-Burman digs the ball vs. Payne Tech on Sept. 8.
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The 10th-seeded Bloomfield High School girls volleyball team defeated No. 23 seed Orange 28-26 and 25-18 in the preliminary round of the Essex County Tournament at home on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The Bengals were scheduled to visit No. 7 seed Montclair in the first round on Wednesday, Oct. 22, after press time. The winner of Bloomfield/Montclair will face the winner between No. 2 seed Millburn and No. 15 seed Cedar Grove in the quarterfinals on Friday, Oct. 24, at the higher-seeded school. The semifinals are Monday, Oct. 27, at Mount St. Dominic in Caldwell and the final is Wednesday, Oct. 29, at Livingston.
Verona is the No. 1 seed.
In the win over Orange, junior River Estrada had 16 kills and four digs, junior Dayvin Bixel-Burman had 11 digs and junior Grace Belmonte had 23 assists. Sophomore Naomi Santana had eight kills, senior Anaiis Bejas had five digs and senior Olanma Kal had four kills for the Bengals, who improved to 15-3 on the season.
In the previous match, the Bengals gave a strong effort, but lost at Bridgewater-Raritan in four sets 25-16, 22-25, 25-7 and 29-27. The Bengals had their six-match winning streak end. Sophomore Chideha Osondu had 14 kills and nine digs, Bixel-Burman posted 19 digs, Belmonte collected 25 assists and nine digs, Estrada had nine kills and five digs and Bejasa recorded seven digs. Bridgewater-Raritan improved to 18-3.
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