Girls Volleyball Rocks the Net For Third Win of the Season

Serving is a key aspect in the game of volleyball. In the rally scoring system used in high school and college matches, teams can  score a point by acing (hitting a non-returnable) serve. In addition, a good serve can set up the offense while a bad serve will cost a point. Over the years, Amity has always been known as a very good serving team. Coach Paul Thees expects his team to land 95% of its serves. With that high percentage, he feels that his team has a good chance to win most matches. After so-so serving in then season-opener against Mercy (a match that the Lady Spartans struggled to win,) the Black and Gold knocked home 93% of its serves in an easy win over North Haven. Monday night, Amity landed 96% of its serves (70 of 73) and easily defeated West Haven 3-0 (25-8, 25-16, 25-21). With that home win, Thees’ spikers are now 3-0.

He said, “We didn’t miss a serve in the first game—but I expect that. We also communicated well, and moved well too. I told my girls to go after them right away and that’s exactly what they did. All in all, I thought we played really well in the first game.”

Thees added, “I think things came too easy for us in the first game. In the second and third games, we began to make mistakes. We let up on the throttle and began to struggle. I also began to make some substitutions. Fortunately, we were able to capitalize on a lot of West Haven mistakes. The bottom line is, we won and I never complain about a win.”

Solid blasts to the floor from Allison and Rachel Denny along with an assortment of unforced Blue Devil errors staked Amity to a quick 6-0 first game lead.

With her team holding a 9-4 lead, serving specialist Caitlyn Strona came off the bench and knocked in seven consecutive serves (including an ace) and extended the Lady Spartan lead to 16-4.

According to Thees, “Caitlin knows what her job is.”

Keyed by kills from Kristin Post and Rebecca Denny along with a scoring dink by Jessica Malinconico and finally a game-ending dump over the net by setter Alyssa Mirmina brought the curtain down on the opening contest.

The second game began with Mirmina putting home four serves, Rebecca Denny nailing two blasts to the floor, and Amity jumping ahead 4-0. At that point, the Westies suddenly woke up. Jenna DeCacchi’s dink, a block and a kill from 6-foot 2-inch Brittany Reis and soon the match was even at 5-5.

A pair of Malinconico kills enabled the hosts to open up a 12-8 lead but Kori Wilkerson’s kill and a service ace by Rosita Laureano keyed a Westie spurt that brought them back within a point (12-11).

Leading 16-14 following a lifting violation by Wilkerson,, Amity ran off  a 7-1 string of points (two of Malinconico’s six kills, one of her two blocks, and her dink) along with an unforced West Haven mistake and  extended its advantage to  23-15. Back-to-back mistakes by Kara Patterson and Wilkerson ended the second contest.

The third game was a sloppier see-saw battle that had 10 ties and neither team able to open up a commanding lead. Cassie Murillo’s blast into the net, a service ace by Co-Captain Dana Blydenburg gave Amity a two point edge (20-18). Shortly thereafter, Jessica Hoffer’s service ace made it 23-20. While Wilkerson did stuff an attempted kill by Rebecca Denny back over the net, the contest came to a close with Sydnee Sousa knocking two blasts to the floor.

In addition to Malinconico’s team-high six kills and two blocks, Rebecca Denny added five kills. Souza recorded three kills and a block. Thees also noted that Strona had 17 good serves and an ace, which extends her perfect serving streak to 50 in a row. In addition recording 20 assists, Mirmina was good on all 17 of her serves (along with an ace).

Reis and Wilkerson were credited with seven kills each for the 1-3 Blue Devils.

The undefeated Lady Spartans visit Branford Wednesday for a 5:15 p.m. SCC inter-divisional match.