Volleyball: 6-0 league record sets up postseason
“Playoffs here we come!”
That was a Facebook post appearing on Wednesday evening, October 2. The Shelter Island varsity volleyball team had just beaten a feisty Bishop McGann-Mercy team to raise their record to 6-0 in League 8 and guarantee themselves a spot in the post season.
When scouting Mercy, I saw they had some very tough servers with a couple of players scoring aces in the double digits. Although this year’s version of the Island team has good passers, the fact that the Monarchs’ team is also tall with good hitting potential was worrisome.
But Mercy plays erratically, and we were able to use that to our advantage.
It was Mercy’s homecoming, so their gym was festooned with green and gold balloons and signs. There was a semi-raucous crowd present for part of the match as well. Confident but cautious, the Blue and Gray started the match quickly. After a 4-4 start, they never trailed again. Erin Colligan served 8 consecutive serves, including 4 aces. During one of the ace cheers, Kenna McCarthy landed on a teammate and turned an ankle. Serina Kaasik calmly stepped in to give her a rest, and MeMe Lawrence was poised to take over all the setting duties, but Kenna gritted it out. The set ended quickly 25-11.
During the second set, MeMe shot a set to Bre Rietvelt to start the game with a bang. The Monarchs sported taller and more aggressive blockers than we have seen all season, so we cranked up our hitter coverage and ran faster sets to split the block. Margaret Michalak hit a few hard balls out of bounds, but she recalibrated her intimidating hitting, and ended the day with a team-high 7 kills. The rest of the team also contributed. In a well-balanced attack every person on the team spiked the ball for points. Kelly Collgian swung hard from back row and our unforced serving errors were down. We took the second set 25-19.
Mercy was determined to fight back and the third set was a tough battle. They started on a 4-0 run featuring very tough serving. We made some adjustments to the serve receive, and pulled out of the situation. Back on an even keel, Logan Pendergrass hit a “quick” set to pull us ahead 10-9. Down 10-14, Mercy called a time out. Reenergized, they got 5 quick points. We then played point for point, slowly pulling ahead to 23-20. A big block and an ace by Mercy rattled us and two miscommunications later we were at 23-24, on the brink of losing the set. But The Island girls buckled down and an Erin kill, retaliatory Logan block and a Margaret kill ended the set and match, 26-24.
“That was fun!” was the universal response of players and coaches of both teams. I was very happy to see the team having the confidence to adjust on the fly, be flexible and work with the strengths of each player. The Mercy team is composed of kind and pleasant athletes, and we look forward to seeing them during our last match of the season — senior send-off could be interesting!
The JV squad had a tougher time with their Mercy counterparts. Some tentative serve receives and inconsistent serving on our part took its toll. Melissa Frasco had a good night, scoring 9 service aces. Julia Labrozzi’s 3 kills were also a highlight. The first two sets were losses at 14-25 and 17-25. However, by the third set the team was clicking on all cylinders, easily winning the third stanza 25-8.
Both squads invite fans and the public to our annual “Dig Pink” match against Pierson on Thursday, October 10. This match will be dedicated to raising funds and awareness about breast cancer. Wear your pink and bring some money to donate to the cause! The JV starts at 4 p.m., with the varsity following the intermatch activities at about 5:45 p.m.
