- Details
- Category: Current Issue
Volleyball
coach
pleased
Team tops in Div. I
There have been a lot of firsts for the Woodstock Academy volleyball team under the direction of coach Adam Bottone.
But a 3-1 win over Darien Oct. 19 will go down as one of his personal favorites.
The Blue Wave has been one of the elite teams in the sport in the state.
Darien has won 17 state championships including nine in a row from 2001 to ’09.
Bottone still recalls the two meetings the Centaurs had with Darien in the Class L state tournament
The Blue Wave downed the Centaurs, 3-0, in 2009 in a second round match.
The Centaurs lost in a second round match, 3-0, in 2007, not getting out of single digits in the first two sets.
So a win over Darien was pretty special.
“It’s phenomenal,” Bottone said. “They’re solid and this is one of the biggest wins of my career. I’ve been in some good ones. Back when Ledyard had (Division I player) Michelle Klinikowski, we won with Sarah Swenson when she was a senior. There was the state tournament match against Avon where we were down two, fought back and won in five. This win is definitely up there in the top three.”
The Centaurs (12-4) had to rally a couple of times against the Blue Wave to win their 10th straight match.
Darien took the first set, 25-22, and were up by nine points in the second but Woodstock Academy fought back for the 25-22 win.
The Centaurs went up 2-1 with another 25-22 win in the third but the fourth was a little troublesome.
Woodstock Academy trailed 24-19 and on game point, junior setter Marissa Mayhew stepped behind the service line.
She delivered five of her 12 service points in the match to tie the game at 24.
Darien (8-5) did go up 25-24 before the Centaurs tied it and went ahead, 26-25.
Woodstock Academy took the match despite an errant pass on a volley. The ball was headed low toward the net when middle hitter Amelia Large jumped up, swiped at it with a backward motion of her hand and just dropped it over the net.
Mayhew added 17 assists and 17 digs while senior Paula Hernandez had her typical game with 39 digs, 25 kills and 14 service points.
“(Saturday) wasn’t pretty by any means but the fact that we’re hanging in there, competing and winning, when it’s tough, is important. I would be fearful if I was other teams because when it truly 100 percent clicks for us, we’re going to be close to unstoppable,” Bottone said.
Woodstock Academy did have a tough start to the season to rebound from.
But it didn’t hurt when it came to its ECC record.
The Centaurs finished off their Division I battles in the league with a spotless record through six matches after a 3-0 win over Norwich Free Academy Oct. 16.
“It’s awesome. Hopefully, it continues for many years to come. I don’t know that it will. There are solid teams in the Large division and to come out undefeated against quality teams with some quality players and good coaching is not easy. The opposing teams made us work for those wins, it feels great,” Bottone said of another undefeated Division I campaign.
He also likes what he is seeing on the court.
“We’re starting to do a lot of things better than we were early on,” Bottone added. “Our middles are starting to work a lot better, our receive is getting cleaned up some and now we’re working on defense to make it more effective. It was better (Wednesday).”
Bottone had to work in a new libero this season.
He found one in former middle hitter, senior Katie Papp, who has been up-and-down this season but lately, has had much more upside.
“She struggled early on, found her groove and then went back to struggling. We talked about the mindset and how that comes into play with what we do and I think she’s making herself stay relaxed and loose. She’s not worried so much about making a mistake and that has helped her quite a bit. Her passing has been a lot better and her defense is good,” Bottone said.
Papp did have one complaint after the win over NFA.
Her elbows were swollen and painful from hitting the floor.
“I said, ‘Read better, and you won’t have to hit the ground,’” Bottone said with a laugh.
Papp had another solution.
“I need elbow pads,” she said with a smile.
But she agreed with the rest of Bottone’s assessment.
“It’s all mentality. In the beginning of the season, I wasn’t in it mentally and now, I’m more comfortable and am playing much better,” Papp said.
The Centaurs celebrated “Dig Pink night” for breast cancer awareness month which had them pumped for the match with the Wildcats.
“We’re always so excited. We decorated the whole place and we get a ton of people to come. It was a great night,” Papp said.
Both for Dig Pink and on the floor.
The Centaurs won the first set easily, 25-11.
They had to battle a bit more in the second set, three kills by Hernandez at the end, helped to account for the 25-21 win.
Woodstock Academy had to overcome a little adversity.
The service game for the Centaurs was not sharp and they committed eight service errors in the second set alone.
“We struggled at the line a lot and so did they. We gave an error and I was like, ‘Oh man, what are we doing?,’” Bottone said. “We had 18 errors. But every time I said that, (NFA) would return the favor. I don’t think (NFA) played to its potential, part of that was that the balls we put into play, made it difficult for them.”
The Centaurs clinched the win with a 25-19 victory in the final set.
Hernandez finished with 11 kills, 18 digs and 10 service points.
Mayhew had 19 assists to go with seven digs and eight service points.
Woodstock Academy claimed the ECC Division I title for itself with a 3-1 win over Fitch in Groton earlier last week.
Hernandez had 23 kills and 25 digs; Sierra Bedard 5 kills and a block and Aurissa Boardman 9 kills and 11 service points for the Centaurs.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
..