Shelter Island volleyball teams staying strong

Bursting in the gym door at the end of the varsity team’s practice on Wednesday, Sept. 25, the Shelter Island JV volleyball team was all smiles. They had beaten the Greenport/Southold squad for their first match win of the season.

The Clippers had taken the first set 25-16, but a well-balanced attack, good serving and team effort allowed the Islanders to mount a come-from-behind victory.

In the pivotal second set, Juliana Medina served eight in a row, then an additional four later to set up the tie-breaker. Perhaps inspired by her teammate’s steady focus, Kylie Kuhr Leonard then served 13 in a row in the final set to win the match 25-15.

Since stopping for food is de rigueur on off-Island trips, the happy team stopped for pizza to celebrate.

The next match was a trip to Center Moriches on Saturday, Sept. 28. The JV team was “Lily-less:” Lily Potter and Lily Brigham had conflicts, so only seven athletes were available. The Islanders routinely uses all of its players during a match, so only having one substitute was a challenge.

The first set featured a lot of serving errors on both sides. The Islanders and Devils warmed up slowly, missing 10 serves apiece. However, Lexi Bartilucci was primed to make an impact on offense. She dug up the Devils’ hits, got a set by Kuhr and swung away.

She scored four kills in the first set alone. In the second set, Sadie Green-Clark served strongly, earning two aces. Makayla Cronin added her serve receive and passing to the effort.

The third set Center Moriches got out to a 7-0 start, but the Islanders didn’t crumble. With good energy and focus, the squad is showing its growth producing the customary pass-set-hit sequence. Maeve Springer found herself in the midst of several three-hit plays.

Springer’s nice pass led to a Medina kill. A great save allowed Kuhr to score with a tricky tip. A Green-Clark pass and Bartilucci set allowed Springer to swing away on offense. Natalie Mamisashvili also had a nice put-over for a kill. Varsity showed their appreciation as they cheered from the stands, “Great rally!”

Coach Kristin Sweeney was proud of the team: “They have been putting in the work, and they are starting to see the results.” Indeed, the team scored more points in each set than the first time around. Center Moriches got the match win 25-19, 25-20 and 25-17, but the day was a great boost in the team’s confidence.

VARSITY

“What you work on, you get better at.” I’ve heard those words at coaching clinics many times. This season serve receive seems to be our Achilles heel, so we work on it. A lot.

The athletes recognize that improvement takes effort and are fully on board to face “Sasha,” the intimidating and sometimes erratic serving machine. Their effort paid off in the Saturday, Sept. 28 match against Center Moriches.

The Red Devils were the first team we faced in the season. While still a young team, the Islanders have also become more confident and resilient over the past month. In this second meeting, the serve receive was more consistent, the rallies longer, and the digs off the Center Moriches hits more impressive.

As the game progressed, you could feel the team growing more confident — not necessarily because of the score, but in the way the points were won. In our first meeting, the Red Devils scored 35 aces out of the 75 points they earned, a humbling 47%. In our second matchup, they still served well, but the percentage was below 30 — a huge difference that let us stay in rallies longer and limit their point runs.

We had the full nine-member squad available for this match, and every single member contributed to the effort. Lili Kuhr was a star for the team, coming in as a serving specialist. Her strong serves surprised the Devils, and were a point of pride for the Islanders.

Paulina Nava and Dariana Duran have found a comfortable rhythm as they sub in for one another in the outside hitter position.

Lauren Gibbs is becoming noticeably more confident in her blocking and taking charge at the net. Likewise, Mae Brigham’s blocking caused the Devils’ hitters to think twice about where they could hit the ball, resulting in points as they swung wide or out of bounds.

Miranda Marcello has quick reflexes, and her full lay out to get to a ball on defense was impressive to see. She also had a terrific ace in the deep corner of the court.

As a setter, Elliot Schack is often a quiet engineer of plays, but with our new serve receive and defensive formations El is available to dig up balls and is adding depth to our game. Quinn Sobejana is the opposite of a stealth player — in bright green her high energy never-say-die defensive play charges up the team.

Johanna Kassik is our other setter, and she has excellent court sense. She often scores points by knowing where to send the ball to the opponent’s courts with tricky tips.

Following the match, the Center Moriches coach complimented me on the team’s growth. As a high school and club coach, as well as a certified official, she knows the work that goes into shaping a group of teen athletes into a team.

As we buckle down to face the second half of our schedule, I’m excited to see where our hard work will take us.