Lady Spartans Volleyball Win an 'Ugly' Match Against Mercy

Following a first game win, the Amity volleyball team fumbled, stumbled and gave Game No. 2 to Mercy. Despite playing equally as wobbly in Game No. 3, the Lady Spartans managed to win it. Then, trailing 15-10 in a mistake-laden Game No. 4, Coach Paul Thees then turned the game band entire match around by sending senior Co-Captain Caitlyn Strona onto the floor. With her pin-point serving she proceeded to run off nine points in a row—turning the Lady Spartans five point deficit into a four point lead (19-15).  From there Amity proceeded to defeat the 0-2 Tigers 25-19 and win the match 3-1 (25-19), 17-25), 25-23, 25-19) Wednesday night in a Southern Connecticut Conference inter-divisional match that was played in Woodbridge.

According to Thees, “We played pretty well and won the first game. Then we took a 6-1 lead in the second game but then fell apart and gave it away. It was the same story in the third game but still won it. After falling behind again in the fourth game I put in Caitlyn and she served up a series of big points. Neither team served very well but her serving was the turning point in the match. Once Caitlyn started serving with consistency, we started to jell. Our passing got much better and that set up our improved hitting. Until then, our poor passing resulted in (setter) Alyssa Mirmina having to run all over the floor tracking down our passes.”

Service aces by Lou Davila, Meghan Nelson, and Sharon Carabetta along with big hits from Rachel Woods and clutching blocking by Olivia Ford propelled the Tigers into their Game #4 lead. Amity managed to stay close in large part due to the timely hitting of Allison Denny.

When Nelson landed her second service ace of the game, Mercy pounced ahead 15-10. At that point, Strona entered the contest. A Denny kill and a block by senior Co-Captain Jessica Malinconico along with Davila’s blast into the net sliced the Tiger lead back to two points (15-13). Misfires by Woods and Davila (19 digs and 5 kills) knotted the tally at 15-15. A pair of off-speed kills by Malinconico, a Strona ace, and a scoring dump over the net by Kristen Post put Amity in front by four points (19-15).

A service ace by lefty Dana Blydenburg, a block and anothe Malinconico soft shot to the floor along with forcing three Mercy side-outs ended Amity’s 15-4 spurt and brought the curtain down on its first win of the season.

“Jess did land some soft hits in the fourth game but until then had really not done anything. She is strong and has to hit the ball harder. Allison Denny had some hard hits and Syndee Sousa hit a few down too, but we seemed to hit every ball into their block. We aren’t that big so we need to slice our hits to the east and west of the blockers. Dana Blydenburg had some decent serves. With more consistent overall serving, we can control games. This one wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was down-right ugly at times but it’s a win and I’ll take it,” Thees said.

Starting off with a match-opening ace by Mirmina, the Lady took an early lead in the opening contest. Thanks to a Rebecca Denny kill and an ace from her sister, Allison, Amity gradually extended that advantage to 8-3. A pair of blasts to the floor from Rebecca Denny and a scoring dump from Malinconico catapulted the Lady Spartans into a 14-5 advantage.

Led by a pair of services aces by Nelson and another by Carabetta, Mercy crept back within 5 points (16-11 and 23-18) but never any closer. Blydenburg whacked two blasts over the net, a Post kill and a service ace closed out a solid Lady Spartan first game effort.

The second game began with Mirmina landing two service aces along with a blast and a block by Allison Denny that opened up a 6-1 Lady Spartan lead. Slowly but surely, Mercy answered back. Scoring hits, an ace, and a block by Nelson (who ended up with a match-best 16 kills along with four blocks) followed by a kill from Carobetta and a cross court shot from Davila capped a 12-5 Tiger run that gave them a 12-11 advantage.

With consecutive scoring hits from Davila, Carobetta, Nelson, Astin Donavan, and Nelson, Mercy jumped ahead 18-14. Two more Nelson scores and an ace along with a kill from Olivia Foran opened up an eight-point lead (22-15). That contest ended with back-to-back kills from Donovan.

The third game was the ugliest game of the night. Neither team could serve consistently; the hitting became very erratic; and, neither team was able to open up a sizeable advantage. Amity built and blew leads of 12-10 and 17-14. With the scored deadlocked at 22-22, Davila sailed a serve beyond the end line, Blydenburg nailed an ace to the floor, and Woods was whistled for a game-ending lifting infraction.

The 1-0 Lady Spartans host North Haven Friday at 5:30 p.m.