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Volleyball teams breaking fast out of the gate

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Colibiri Lopez leaping to the ball in the Shelter Island School volleyball team’s home victory over Stony Brook Tuesday.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Colibri Lopez leaping to the ball in the Shelter Island School volleyball team’s home victory over Stony Brook Tuesday.

August 24 seems like a long time ago.

That was when Shelter Island Volleyball started practice for the 2015 season. The teams have come a long way in two weeks, Coach Jim Theinert is back in the gym, and now the Shelter Island junior varsity and varsity teams have completed their first league volleyball matches.

The junior varsity squad started the season with a long bus ride to Wyandanch on Labor Day. With Phoebe Starzee not available, the team had only seven players. Despite the odds, Shelter Island won the first set, but Wyandanch’s “one and over” style of play challenged the team to handle the ball quite a bit. Even though Shelter Island gave an excellent effort, they dropped the next two, losing the match.

But the next day on their home court was a different story. Coach Jim Theinert saw a more confident and focused effort. The team has also begun to establish some coordinated cheers to help keep each other involved.

Strong serving and cooperative team play allowed the team to sweep the visiting Stony Brook Bears in the hot Island gym, 25-16, 25-6 and 25-12.
The team’s goal was to work on getting three hits: a pass, set and spike whenever possible. Using this combination sets up the team for hard hits from the offense, increasing their chance of success. As it turned out, they had limited opportunity to do so.

The Bears struggled with their serving, while the Blue and Gray, after shaking off some early nerves, unleashed some tough serves. Sarah Lewis tallied 11 aces, seven in a row at the start of the second set. Starzee closed out that set with 6 consecutive aces. In the third set Nicolette Frasco served 13 straight, including 6 aces.

Nice hustles on defense were also part of the success. Liz Larsen hustled after an errant pass, getting a touch on a ball many would have given up on. Julia Labrozzi made two dives to the floor on serve receive, surprising the Bears as her effort resulted in a point for the home team.

Ella Mysliborski is developing as a right side hitter, and is showing more confidence in stepping in to handle the ball.

Nichole Hand is also improving each day, especially her play at the net. She blocked a ball back over to the Stony Brook side. The Bears scrambled to save it, but Issie Sherman jumped up and hit the overpass, getting a nice kill. Sherman also served the winning point in the final set, sealing the sweep at 25-12.

VARSITY
Following the JV’s victory, the varsity team took the court for their first match. We had last seen Stony Brook in the Class D county championships last November. The Bears often are defensive minded — they don’t tend to dominate with hard hits, but can keep a rally going.

Shelter Island was confident, with all team made up of returning varsity players. Stony Brooks also had some strong returning players. In particular, their setter and libero featured very tough serves.

Team Manager Alexis Perlaki helped warm up the team and Genesis Urbaez was scorekeeper for the match.

The game started evenly enough, but the Stony Brook coach didn’t like what she saw, and down 4-6, called a time out. The Bears settled down, and tough serving stung the Island receivers. Their libero served short, then deep, handcuffing our players, putting together a 6 point run to go ahead 12-8. With our serving sputtering six misses during this set alone — Stony Brook steadily increased their lead until I called a time out at 10-16.

Down by 6 points, I challenged the team to focus on communication, especially on serve receive. The Island girls started chipping away, got 4 points in a row, then pulled to 16-21. With 9 points to earn before the Bears got 4, we started passing better and making good decisions on offense. The score went back and forth, but Emily Hyatt’s block tied the score at 22-22.

The momentum had shifted. Amira Lawrence’s service ace pulled us ahead 23-22. Despite another missed serve we held on to win 25-23.

Stung by the slow start, the Island jumped out much faster in the second set. This time it was Stony Brook’s turn to have trouble with the tougher serves and we went ahead 5-0. First Amira, then Margaret Michalak took big swings for kills on overpasses. Melissa Frasco, the only error-free server on the team, served 12 straight, including 6 aces during this set alone, to stretch the lead to 21-4.

Serina Kaasik likes to fly under the radar on the court, but she is swinging with more authority and made a great scrambling save on a Bear’s tip to up the lead to 23-6. Kenna McCarthy, our setter, showed that she too could score points as she deftly placed a sneaky shot to the far corner of the court to clinch the second set, 25-7.

With such a lopsided score, I was concerned that the players might rest on their laurels in the third set. However, with 6 seniors looking at their final high school season, they seemed determined to make a statement about their intentions to go out at the top of their game.

Colibri Lopez, undoubtedly the shortest middle hitter in the county, confidently took the court in the third set. While she didn’t get many looks at sets, she made her mark with four consecutive serves and determinedly put up blocks. McCarthy saw a tip dropping as hitter completed a position switch, so she stretched for the ball, keeping the play going. Kelly Colligan continued her excellent passing and defensive work.

She “reads” the court very well, often seeing a play develop, and getting a half step ahead of the competition. She also tied Michalak and Lawrence with seven kills apiece. The last set ended 25-10.

Overall I was pleased with the match. There is great senior leadership, and a more even level of talent on the court than in the past. The team now trusts one other to get to the ball. Frasco’s confidence has increased and her take-charge demeanor on defense and serve receive is great.

We’ve been working hard to run a faster offense, and with Frasco’s passing clicking in, McCarthy had a field day getting the ball to Lawrence for some crowd pleasing quick hits from the middle.

The season is still brand new, but I’m excited at the commitment to a higher level of play the team has made. We hope to showcase that for our fans at our next home match today, Thursday, September 10 against the Pierson Whalers.

JV plays at 4 p.m. with varsity following at approximately 5:45 p.m. Come down and support your local athletes!