Mohegan — On Thanksgiving, the two schools’ football programs, Ledyard and Fitch, compete for the Colonel Ledyard Sword. So why not a little volleyball rivalry to add to it, played for the Mohegan Sun Cup?

Fitch toppled Ledyard 25-20, 25-19, 25-15 Monday night in the third of three featured matches at The Day Volleyball Invitational under the bright lights at Mohegan Sun Arena, a day which drew 1,427 fans to its three main events.

In the spirit of the all-Eastern Connecticut Conference matchup between the familiar opponents, the two athletic directors even made a friendly wager that the losing AD would wear the winning school’s colors sometime during the week.

Imagine Ledyard’s Jim Buoncore in Fitch’s red and black. Oh, boy.

“I think personally, for me, it’s my senior year and I’ve been playing volleyball since I was in the fifth grade,” said Fitch’s Bella Ditmore, following a triumphant team-wide celebration, asked why the win meant so much.

“It’s really special to me to see my community and all my friends come and see me play in the arena and especially winning and my personal connections to the casino and this city. I love it.”

Ditmore finished with 19 assists and five aces, putting together a pair of long service runs in the second and third games to help Fitch break through.

Abby Malone had nine kills and 10 digs for Fitch (5-7), Tessa Cantone 14 digs and Katie Virtue six kills.

Bella Schweitzer and Shyann McKeon each had four kills for Ledyard (5-8), Kylee Gill 13 digs and Emily Peckham seven assists.

“It’s a good push in the right direction for us,” Ditmore said. “Even with struggling at the start (of the season), this, especially seeing and just being here is such a push. We’re such a close-knit team. It’s so special with these girls.”

In other matches Monday, Southington, ranked sixth in the most recent Connecticut Volleyball Coaches’ Poll, blanked No. 4 RHAM 25-20, 25-20, 25-22.

That was followed by a 25-18, 25-13, 25-19 victory by Joel Barlow in the second match of the day, with Barlow blanking Waterford, a faceoff which featured the No. 1 team in the CIAC Class L rankings (Waterford) and also the No. 1-rated team in Class M (Barlow).

In the opener, Southington won its second straight matchup against RHAM, having also swept the Raptors 3-0 in last season’s CCC tournament championship.

Cami Wessels had 11 kills for Southington (11-1) and Natalee Grindle had nine, while Alyssa Ferreira finished with 11 digs and Megan Smith 31 assists. The Blue Knights made just four service errors.

“It was amazing that we got to play RHAM here,” said Wessels, a senior who was a Class LL all-state selection last season at outside hitter. “I just think it’s a really good experience. I think this is a good experience just getting in front of a big crowd and seeing what that’s like.”

Southington outlasted Glastonbury 3-2 in another CCC interdivisional matchup Friday, with Wessels registering 24 kills and six aces to lead the way.

“The season has gone really well,” Wessels said. “We work well with each other, we talk well, we are able to communicate well on the court. We’re able to pick each other up when we need to. I love my team.”

RHAM, the two-time defending state champion, is 11-2.

Barlow (10-1) was led by the offensive firepower of senior Mackenzie Sickinger and a fast-paced “31” formation which kept the Waterford defense enough off-balance that the Lancers had trouble getting into their own offense. Barlow was the 2022 Class L champion.

Danica Agsalud had 17 assists for Waterford (10-2), Kecelia Hill had 14 digs and Emerson Lane finished with six kills and two blocks.

“They had a very skilled offense and what I was telling our girls is that we also have a very good offense but we weren’t able to show it tonight,” Waterford coach Amanda (Tourjee) Kostek said. “Their offense was able to keep us out of system enough so that we couldn’t run our offense as much, so they did a great job.”

Kostek called it great preparation for the postseason.

“It’s that combination of how do you say, ‘We could have put up a better fight,’” Kostek said. “But also ‘Hats off to the other team for such a phenomenal job well done.’”

v.fulkerson@theday.com