Junior high volleyball girls setting a strong course

It’s been a quick season for the Shelter Island School junior high girls volleyball team.

Unlike high school, where three sports seasons are offered, the junior high level has four: fall, early winter, late winter and spring. This means younger athletes can try more sports, but each season is only one quarter of the school year.

The volleyball season started corresponding with an outbreak of respiratory illness, followed by the 8th grade trip to Disney, quickly followed by the Thanksgiving break. Coach Brian Becker and assistant Alexis Perlaki sometimes had to hold practices with just two or three athletes.

Thanks to the flexibility of the athletic department, the team was able to reschedule some of their earlier matches while working to get enough athletes qualified to play in games. With a compressed schedule the girls are having fun and playing quite competitively.

Coach Becker is working with the girls to develop the basic skills of serving, passing, setting and spiking. The holy grail of volleyball is to use all three hits. The pass — or “serve receive” — controls and directs the ball to a setter. The setter puts the ball up in a high arc so the hitter can run, jump and spike the ball. All skills involve tracking the ball, moving into position and then executing the correct motion with control and power while adjusting for speed and angle of the ball. It’s not easy.

There are eight girls on the team. Jane Richards and Emma Teodoru are the sole 7th graders. Both are slight, but move well to the ball and are seeing quick improvement in their passing. Their increasingly consistent serves are a source of pride.

Six 8th graders round out the squad. Jennifer Lupo has switched to an overhand serve, a step up from last year. When she gets her toss right, it’s quite effective.

Abby Kotula, small in stature but fearless and quick of foot, is often on the move and passes quite well. She also has one of the most consistent serves on the team and had a team-high 9 points against Bridgehampton on January 11. Emma Gallagher is quick and is the best communicator on the team, consistently calling the ball. Her serve is also quite good and she got 6 points in a row against Bridgehampton.

Amelia Reiter and Amelia Clark are both tall and have improved quite a bit over last season. Clark’s strong overhand serving stands out. Rieter likes to attack the ball, and isn’t afraid to hit the floor in defensive efforts.

Lauren Gurney sports blazing-fast serves and is the most likely to score points on crowd-pleasing hits. Tall and strong armed, her softball training is quite evident; she moves well on the court and is the strongest setter on the squad.

The team is spirited, with laughter often part of their games and practices. With the exception of Montauk, the team has won sets against each of the opponents it has  faced.

As a coach I love to see the enthusiasm of the girls and their improvement throughout the season. Especially in a small school like Shelter Island, it’s also great to see cross country, basketball and softball athletes playing different sports, and cross-training to improve their athleticism. Undoubtedly most of these young women will be trading in their kneepads and headed to the basketball court in a few weeks.

Their last home match is tomorrow, Wednesday, January 13 at 4:30 p.m. against East Moriches. They wrap up their season at the Ross School on Monday, January 15.