Groton — It’s not easy to work out with a mask on. Anyone who has done aerobic activity at a gym during the pandemic will confirm that as fact.

The Lyman Memorial girls’ volleyball team has enjoyed great success because of their ability to adapt and evolve, and they continue to do during this odd CIAC fall season.

The defending Class S champions have gotten used to playing with the masks while their new setter, sophomore Kassidy LaTour, has developed nicely in her first season as a varsity starter. She, senior Helen Megson and the rest of the unbeaten Bulldogs took down Fitch on Wednesday 25-23, 25-14, 27-25 in an Eastern Connecticut Conference match.

“It was hard at first,” Megson said about getting used to playing with masks, “but we’re getting through the adversity, and I think we’re doing really well with the masks now. It’s not bothersome anymore.”

Megson, a two-time All-State hittter, had 28 kills and 10 digs for Lyman (4-0) and LaTour had 46 assists. Senior Anna Matthewson added 27 digs and sophomore Arianna Garcia had 16.

Junior Rita Sefransky had 18 assists and five aces, senior Marlo Sim had 13 digs and senior Alyssa Virtue had seven kills for the Falcons (0-3).

There was concern if there would be a girls’ volleyball season as the state’s Department of Health recommended over the summer that the CIAC postpone it and football because of the pandemic, the concern with volleyball being that it’s played indoors.

The CIAC opted to have a girls’ volleyball season but required masks.

“We didn’t ease up on the kids at all,” Bulldogs head coach Amanda Nappi said about preseason practices. “We were going right at it from the beginning knowing that the quicker we got adapted to the masks, we could move on and get focused on volleyball.

“I’d say the first week, they had a hard time breathing. Whoever says it doesn’t make it hard to breath has never tried to do a hard, one-hour practice in it. … I don’t think it’s been an issue since then. I’ve talked to the kids about it. It’s not really a distraction for them. They don’t notice it anymore. It’s really just become a part of the routine.”

Sefransky echoed those sentiments from the Fitch side.

“It gets really hot (wearing one),” Sefransky said. “We’re used to it by now. We practice in it, so it’s getting better.”

LaTour has taken over at setter after the graduation of three-year starter Indigo Hevner (1,887 career assists), and she’s going to be a keeper for Lyman.

“She’s doing a great job,” Megson said. “I really want to give her props.”

Nappi said, “She has all the tools necessary. We made sure to get her lots of reps last year trying to get her hands asprepared as possible, but honestly, she’s come in this year she’s done a great job. And it’s also a credit to her teammates, especially the upperclassmen, the experienced hitters she’s setting. They’ve done a great job of supporting her and working with her. You can see her getting better every day.”

Sefransky got Fitch off to a hot start as she served three aces to help it go ahead, 6-0.

Slowly but surely, the Falcons started struggling with inconsistency as Lyman overtook them to win the game.

“We’re young,” Fitch head coach Steve Banks said. “We have four sophomores that are playing, and it’s how they’re going to learn playing good teams like that. We just got to keep plugging away.”

Lyman kept pressing the advantage in Game 2 with the Falcons struggling with serve-receive.

Fitch led much of the final game and were up 16-12 before, once again, the Bulldogs rallied back.

“We stayed right with them,” Banks said. “We’ll bounce back.”

Megson ended the match with back-to-back kills.

“We haven’t really had too (many) competitive (matches) to get through,” Megson said. “We were really excited to play Fitch and they really brought it to the table today, so it was good competition for us. ... (to) test how we’re doing so far in the season.”

n.griffen@theday.com