V-girls ‘put scare’ into powerhouse opponent
Ready for the season, from left, Kenna McCarthy, Nicolette Frasco and Margaret Michalak honing skills Tuesday on the practice court.
Coach Jim Theinert was proud of his JV volleyball squad on Monday, September 8.
In just two weeks his young squad has gone from being baffled and frustrated learning the complex rotational and serve-receive formations to putting a big scare into the Riverhead Blue Waves, a AA school with 1,180 students. By comparison, Shelter Island High School, the smallest of Class D, boasts 51.
The contest at Riverhead was a non-league meeting, but the first official match of the season. Melissa Frasco sported a bright green jersey, sharply contrasting with the royal blue of her teammates. A “libero,” or specialized defensive player, she can freely substitute for any backrow player. Her speedy footwork and fearless play was fun to watch.
Jaime Castillo and Sarah Lewis each had success as setters, while Phoebe Starzee and Issie Sherman exchanged places as outside hitters.
Super serving by Julia Labrozzi and Liz Larsen was also a highlight.
Nicolette Frasco is quickly picking up the game and played very well as a middle hitter.
The team looked tentative in the first set, with the Blue Waves taking it 25-15 before the Blue and Gray settled down to business. The much-improved Islanders won the second set, 25-21. The third, a tiebreaker, was tight, the score staying within 3 points, with five different ties, before a strong armed Riverhead server pulled them ahead to a 25-20 victory.
The Island girls were very pleased with their performance, as they should have been, and it sets them up nicely for their first league match against Knox on Wednesday, September 10.
This early in the season, the varsity team is also finding its rhythm. Although they took 3 of 5 sets against Mattituck in a scrimmage on September 4, the team is still fine tuning the line-up to take advantage of all the strengths of each player.
Kenna McCarthy is our primary setter and has shown great growth over the past year in her consistency and ability to get to nearly any ball passed. She started the Riverhead match off with a 4-0 run on the strength of her serve. Margaret Michalak and Kelly Colligan are both excellent defenders and cagey hitters. Thus far, much of our offense has been channeled through them.
Our challenge will be to diversify our offense and get right side Seri Kaasik and middle hitter Emily Hyatt more involved. Both are willing and able, and will add to our firepower.
Taylor Rando, our only senior, is gaining confidence with each game. She is embracing her primary role as defender and stepped it up a notch on serve receive this match.
Alexis Perlaki and Colibri Lopez are also working hard at defense, with Colibri also able to hit from both the middle and outside positions.
Middle hitter Amira Lawrence has emerged as the premier blocker on the team. She continually challenged Riverhead’s high flying middles, getting better and better contacts, culminating in the best block of the match.
Although Riverhead swept the match 25-18, 25-17,and 25-17, I was pleased at Shelter Island’s ability to change serve receive on the fly to help break some of the Waves’ scoring streaks. The team also had some great scrambles to keep the ball in play. Our ability to quickly gain points through tough serves will be a great spark plug in the coming matches.
The league schedule started on September 9 for the JV squad against Knox, and both teams hit the road for a Class D showdown at Stony Brook on Friday, September 12.
