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Back in the Final Four
Paula Hernandez didn’t expect to get the set from Sammie Orlowski on match point against East Lyme Nov. 10.
It didn’t mean she didn’t want it.
The Woodstock Academy junior did what she normally does.
She took the Orlowski set, gave a quick glance to where the East Lyme defense was and spiked it down the line.
It ended the Class L state tournament quarterfinal in quick fashion.
The top-seeded Centaurs needed just about 75 minutes to post a 3-0 win over No. 8 East Lyme.
The victory put Woodstock Academy into the Class L semifinals Nov. 14 against No. 4 Bristol Eastern.
It’s their second straight appearance in the final four in the state.
The Centaurs lost to RHAM in last year’s state championship match.
“I’m ready,” said Centaurs coach Adam Bottone. “I think the girls need to play a little better than (Saturday) for sure. Maybe that’s my nit-picking as a coach, but I think I need to do that. There were some things that we struggled with that I know Bristol Eastern will take advantage of.”
The Lancers downed Tolland, 3-0, Nov. 10 in a match played earlier than the Woodstock Academy-East Lyme and Bristol Eastern coach Stacy Rivoira was on hand to watch the Centaurs-Vikings quarterfinal.
“I did see a lot of head shaking from her when Paula would go up and kill,” Bottone said with a laugh. “You can block her, but she is going to get you.”
Hernandez wanted to get out of the gym quickly following the match.
The Woodstock Academy junior prom was held Saturday night.
“One week ago, the (prom) was all I could think about. The last two days, I put prom away because prom is a one-night thing. The volleyball season takes so much effort that I didn’t want prom night to be in my head and I needed to keep involved in the game,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez was able to compartmentalize pretty well.
She led the Centaurs to their 23rd consecutive win with 22 kills and 18 digs.
It was the fourth win for Woodstock Academy over East Lyme this season and its third straight by shutout.
“I was kind of afraid because (East Lyme) was going to play really loose,” said senior setter Sammie Orlowski. “We had to bring a little extra this game just to counter any loose play they had.”
Bottone, prior to the match, didn’t think the Vikings (19-5) would be as easy pickings as they were in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship when the Centaurs held them to eight points in a set.
But East Lyme again struggled when it came to building momentum.
The Vikings only strung together three points in one instance early in the second game.
Hernandez got six kills in the first set and Orlowski had a hand in most of those. The senior had eight assists in the first game and 30 for the match.
“Paula and I have bonded a lot. Last year, we were just starting to get to know each other. This year, I connect with her. I know what set she want and I give it to her and, as you can see, she puts it on the ground nicely,” Orlowski said.
Bottone thought the play of his front row was the best he had seen all season.
Hernandez looked like she was on a mission from the start.
“I think she just wanted to get to prom early,” Bottone said. But it was a little more than that.
Early on, East Lyme did get the block up against Hernandez and sent a couple of balls back at the junior.
It’s something she doesn’t take kindly to.
“I’ve talked to her about whether she feels pressure being on the team, being the level of player that she is and she said, sometimes, she feels the pressure when it comes to her statistics. It’s not a pressure that I or anybody else puts on her, it’s something she puts on herself. I told her not to let it get to her, to just be loose and play. But when she gets frustrated, she takes things to another level and that was clear (Saturday) with some of the kills she had.”
Bottone said he thinks Hernandez, at the right Division I school, could play volleyball at that level.
The only thing going against the junior is her size — she is only about 5-feet-9.
“I think if she was to go D-I, she would be better suited to be a defensive specialist or a libero just because the hitters are typically 6-feet tall and above. I think she could definitely play at a smaller D-I school,” Bottone said.
The Centaurs pulled away early in the first set and scored the 25-17 victory.
With that early run in the second game, the Vikings broke out to a 7-2 lead.
But another part of the Centaurs game, the middle hitters, stepped up.
Katie Papp had two of her four blocks in the second set including one that tied the match at 12. A Hernandez kill put the Centaurs ahead to stay as they eventually won Game 2, 25-18.
Sophomore Amelia Large added three blocks.
“That’s the one part of our game that missing, the front-row play in the middle. Whether it’s getting the hits, touches or blocks, we needed that to improve. We struggle way too much against teams that are dominant in the middle,” Bottone said.
It’s what he expects more of from Bristol Eastern.
“They can hit from the outside, middle and opposite really well. They are probably the most well-rounded team that I think we will see all year. I need my middles to be able to get up and get touches on the ball for us to be effective,” Bottone said.
The Centaurs put it all together against a frustrated East Lyme team in the third game and won easily, 25-13.
Woodstock Academy didn’t have it as easy two days earlier against Masuk.
In the first game, the Centaurs thought they had won.
Paige Hine of the Panthers had seemingly slapped the ball long on game point and Woodstock Academy was in celebration mode.
The officials, however, ruled it a deflection.
Masuk went on to win the first game.
Immediately after the loss of the game, Bottone said, “We needed that.”
The wakeup call had been delivered to the Centaurs who took that first game loss and used it as momentum for the remainder of the match and they posted a 3-1 win over the 16th-seeded Panthers.
“Especially with this being my senior year, I’m so happy with how the season is going and I know we can still improve and work harder, but we are getting there,” senior Natalie Low said.
Low said the opening game loss, 30-28, was a disappointment especially after they had thought they won, 29-27.
She said the team lost a little focus which allowed Masuk outside hitter Emily Steffens and middle hitter Brianna Craig to get the two game-winning kills.
Low (16 kills, 16 digs) said Bottone’s “We needed that” statement was accurate.
“We need to keep our heads in it. We can’t afford to get cocky. We have to stay down-to-earth, focus on our game and need to understand that every game could be our last,” Low said.
Bottone expected the first game might be rough. His team had been off for over a week after winning the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship.
So he just, methodically, worked through the problem.
Bottone went to a man-up defense which meant he could move his backs into the seams where Masuk (15-7) was finding success.
He also set up a triple block, suggested by Hernandez, where a third player was behind his two middle hitters, Large and Papp, to clean up the tips that slipped through.
“It worked so much better with three in the middle. She was hitting too much to the side and I couldn’t block it, it started to get in my head. But Coach said just get it out of your head and block her,” Papp said.
Papp answered and so did the rest of the squad.
The Centaurs fell behind, 5-1, in the second game but rallied for the 25-18 victory. They followed that up with 25-16 and 25-14 victories in the last two.
Hernandez finished with 30 kills and Orlowski 37 assists in the win over Masuk.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy