Volleyball teams fighting for every point
The Shelter Island volleyball teams finished up their third consecutive road trip against McGann-Mercy on September 27, then came back home to face league-leading Pierson three days later. The junior varsity and varsity squads continue to show growth and are poised for a strong finish in the last half of the season.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The Monarchs, who have been in League VII the past few years, came back to League VIII as the largest Class C team in the county. The girls on the team are beginning to take volleyball seriously, and it was obvious that some of them train throughout the year.
The JV squad started out the action in Mercy’s loud gym. Showing their increased confidence and teamwork, the team scored more points than in previous matches, nicely matching the Monarchs’ scoring. Despite the 25-21, 25-20 25-19 loss, individuals had some personal bests. Isabelle Topliff’s serving has steadily improved and she won three points for the team. Amelia Reiter is showing nice instincts at the net, jumping up and blocking down a Monarch overpass for a point. The use of three hits per side is an important goal. Lyng Coyne passed the ball to setter Maria Carbajal, who put it up to Amelia Clark who spiked it down for a point. The team consistency was apparent throughout the match since they kept pace with the Monarchs, each team dropping back a few points, then surging to tie the score.
JV Coach Jim Theinert is always thinking. After evaluating his team’s increasing skills and strengths after the McGann-Mercy match, he opted to put 8th grader Jane Richards in the hotspot — designating her the libero for the September 30 Pierson match. With Richards as the defense specialist, Coyne was free to reprise her role as a setter, giving Carbajal, who is recovering from a sore shoulder, a bit of a reprieve from the demanding role as full time play caller.
In addition, the team had specific goals for the match, determined to bring down the number of service errors and increase the number of three-hit rallies. They beat their serving goal, with both Carbajal and Topliff perfect from the serving line. Audrey Wood is showing much more confidence, scoring a kill on a nice pass. Jennifer Lupo showed the team’s increased confidence at the net, spiking down an overpass for a kill. Court awareness is also growing. Amelia Clark, realizing she was in the wrong spot on serve receive, made the heads-up switch just in time, and the team played on. Even though Pierson took the match 25-10, 25-20 25-10, all the effort the team has been making to improve individual skills is starting to pay dividends on the court, and the team is eager to see the Whalers again in their final match.
VARSITY
Bruised but braced, the varsity volleyball team took the court at Bishop McGann-Mercy on Tuesday, September 27. Melissa Frasco and Nichole Hand were still recovering from their sprained ankles, but both played as hard as they could without risking further injury. Julia Labrozzi, her bruised hand still various shades of purple from the all-out effort in the Port Jefferson match, taped up her hand and gamely played on.
The Monarchs have improved during their hiatus in League VII. During the first set, the Blue and Gray also found out the advantage of a home court. The Mercy ceiling is lower than ours, and passes which would be fine on our home court often hit the ceiling, causing setter Sarah Lewis to scramble to put up hittable sets, limiting our offense options. Hand and M. Frasco substituted for one another, trying to give their healing ankles a rest. Domily Gil, whose volleyball skills are beginning to catch up with her athleticism and competitive nature, served well and helped win the first set 25-23.
The next three sets were taken by the Monarchs. Nice defense by Phoebe Starzee highlighted the 25-17 second set, but strong serving by Mercy, coupled with problems with our serve receive, allowed them to put us on our heels.
On Friday, September 30, Pierson’s team strode into our gym, looking confident. They had good reason: Coach Donna Fischer has been rebuilding the program for three years and they”re first place in League VIII. However, after barely escaping with a down-to-the-wire five-set victory, the Whalers learned that the demise of Island volleyball has been greatly exaggerated. Fans in the gym that night were treated to some all-out extended rallies, which had both team scrambling for balls and making tremendous saves.
After stunning Pierson by taking the first set 25-22, the Islanders let down their guard. The Blue and Gray have been inconsistent with our serve receive so far this season, and the combination of receive errors and difficulty scoring points on offense led to disappointing 25-13, and 25-11 losses in the next two sets. At the varsity level, a match victory is determined by a best-of-five format. In the fourth set I challenged the players to take the game point-by-point, to really focus on winning each rally.
Olivia Yeaman, still on the mend from a nagging ailment, was part of the vocal bench who cheered, called balls in and out for the team on the floor, and offered encouragement to her teammates. Genesis Urbaez, relieved Julia Labrozzi, giving Julia’s recovering hand a break. Melissa Frasco was a whirling dervish, tracking down wild passes and returning them over the net.
Down by four points early on, the girls had faith in one another and inched back to tie the score at 19-19. Sarah Lewis did a great job of keeping all hitters engaged, and kept the Whaler defense on their toes with tricky dumps over the net. We came back to win 25-21 to force the tiebreaker.
As I readied the line-up for the final set, I told the beaming team to “figure out how you are going to win this game.” The team huddled on the court, arms around one another, toes touching in a star in the middle of the circle. Team manager Alexis Perlaki and I smiled as the focused squad did the start-of-set cheer without us and headed onto the court.
Early in the match it seemed Pierson would win each of the extended rallies. As the games progressed, the balls began to fall our way. While our offense this year has struggled a bit, the Pierson game showed how we can spread the offense out. Amira Lawrence, team statistician, helped track the team’s progress and charted Nicolette Frasco’s five kills for the match, her highest total yet for the season.
Along with scoring seven kills, Sarah Lewis racked up 24 assists, with each player on the team scoring at last two kills.
In the end Pierson’s higher caliber firepower allowed them to take the final set 25-22, but while understandably happy to win the match, they looked a bit discomfited that it was such a close contest.
The learning curve has been steep during this first round of league play, but players are now used to seeing varsity level volleyball and are rising to the challenge. With the second half of the season ahead of us, the team is prepared to give it everything they’ve got. Stay tuned — this could be a very interesting race to the finish.
