Amity Volleyball on a Roller Coaster Ride, Starting to Come into their Own

The early season has been a roller coaster ride for the Amity boys volleyball team. Coach Mike Cofrancesco’s spikers began the season with a non-conference victory over Kolbe-Cathedral High of Bridgeport, but followed that with successive losses to Cheshire, Darien, and Oxford. That three-game skid was halted by back-to-back wins over Joel Barlow High of Redding and Hand. Amity currently sits at 3-3 (1-1 against Southern Connecticut Conference opponents.

According to Cofrancesco, “All in all, I’d say that things have been going pretty well for us. For the most part, I’ve been pleased with our play. Our losses have been against really good teams. Cheshire features Nate Howard, who is 6-10, and is 7-0. They are a really big hitting/blocking team. Darien is 6-1, and Oxford is 5-2. We had a few guys in the school play when we opened our season against Kolbe, so we brought Matt Heyman up from the junior varsity team and he was 23 of 23 from the serving line.”

The Spartans have been led by 6-5 junior middle hitter Sean Gallagher, senior weak-side hitter Greg DeBarba (a multi-sport athlete who has previously played soccer and golf as well as being the football team’s place kicker), 6-3 sophomore middle hitter Jon Friedman, whom Cofrancesco said has become a dominating figure at the net, 6-1, senior captain and outside hitter Chase Brinton, (rated by Cofrancesco as “a strong defensive player), 5-10 junior strongside hitter Miles Radin, junior setter Eliott DeMelier, and senior libero Eric Iassogna.

“We don’t have much size so we have to be a defensive team that relies on its quickness and movement,” Cofrancesco added. “Our serving has been good but we have had some problems with our service receipt. In our recent win over Barlow, our service receipt and passing was really good. We trailed 7-2 in the first game but battled back to win 3-0. Since two of our guys (DeBarba and Gallagher) are first year players, we’ve been forced to learn on the fly.”

Without any question, Amity’s recent SCC victory over Hand has been the highlight of the season, Trailing 2-1 after three games and their backs to the wall, the Spartans rallied to take the last two games and the victory.

Cofrancesco said, “Without Jon Friedman, we don’t win that match. He was dominant at the net. He recorded 36 kills and 15 blocks. He picked the Hand kids apart at the net. Greg DeMilier did a great job as setter, with 52 assists. We’re coming together. Now, I hope we can make a real push toward the SCC and State tournaments."