Lady Spartans Volleyball Edges Out Sheehan

Despite frequently inconsistent play, the Amity girls volleyball team managed to squeak by Sheehan 3-2 (25-17, 15-25, 25-14, 17-25, 15-6) Monday night in Woodbridge. Limping home following a difficult five-match road trip (during which they ended up 2-3,) the struggling Lady Spartans improved their Southern Connecticut Conference record to 6-3 (2-2 against Housatonic Division opposition).

“We didn’t play particularly well tonight and we were lucky to escape with the win,” Coach Paul Thees said. “We should have been out of here winning three straight games or at least winning three of four. We played decent volleyball in the three games we won, but in the two games we lost, we didn’t play well; didn’t communicate well; and didn’t go after the ball aggressively. Fortunately, we served well in the fifth game.”

Heading into the fifth and final game, the match was deadlocked at 2-2. Amity’s Alyssa Mirmina got the game going by landing a service ace. Sydnee Sousa and Caitlyn Sousa followed with back-to-back kills. A pair of errant hits by the Titans’ Katie Reed made it 5-0.

Leading 5-2, Amity extended its lead to 10-3 when Dana Blydenburg and Allison Denny blasted the ball to the floor, Sousa stuffed Casey Kealy’s hit back over the net, and MacKenzie Lang’s ball sailed far beyond the end line. The game and match came to and end with Jessica Malinconico drilling the ball home through a Titan block as well as Denny nailing two hits to the floor and dropping in a pair of service aces.

The opening game was tied at 10-10 when the Lady Spartans caught fire. Ignited by Rebecca Denny’s kill, Jessica Hoffer’s ace, and Mirmina’s dump over the net, the Black and Gold ran off four points in a row. While Sheehan stayed on the hosts’ heels, it never overtook them. Creeping back within a point (17-16) following one of Kelsey Duran’s team-best 12 kills, they hurt their own cause by committing three straight unforced errors. Kristin Post’s blast to the floor, four straight aces by Amity’s master server, Caitlyn Strona, and two errant hits by Duran brought the first game to an end.

“I thought we placed a decent first game,” Thees said.

The second game was a totally different story. A kill and a scoring block by Rachel Collette followed by three Kealy aces gave the Titans an early 9-3 lead. Amity never got untraced and never got closer than three points (13-10). Trailing 17-13, the second contest ended with Sheehan going on an 8-2 run. After the burly 6-foot 2-inch Collette whacked home a kill and blocked an Amity shot, Katie Reed chalked up three consecutive aces and Collete added the exclamation point to Game No. 2 with a final block.

Still struggling in the third game, the Lady Spartans trailed 10-9 when Blydenburg assumed the serve. She proceeded to reel off eight points in a row and turned the one point deficit into a six point lead  (16-10). That spurt also featured a pair of Malinconico kills and two Mirmina dumps. Malinconico caught the Titans off guard when she tapped two off-speed balls over the net.  A string of six unforced Sheehan mistakes and a game-ending kill by Allisoin Denny gave Amity a 25-14 win and a 2-1 lead.

Thees said, “Dana’s serving was the key to our winning the third game, but we also began to have Alyssa Mirmina consistently dump the ball over the net to counter their strong blocking. Then, Sheehan began to do the same thing back at us, which took them out of their strong hitting game.”

The fourth game was a carbon copy of the second game. Even at 6-6, Amity quickly fell behind and never caught the Titans. Outscored 14-2, they lost a 25-17 decision. Amity was its own worst enemy with a long string of unforced errors. At the same time, Kealy got hot with three kills in a row.

“I thing the difference tonight was our serving and our net play,” Thees added. “Our dumping the ball in the third game was another key because it got Sheehan out of sorts.”

Always a strong serving team, the Lady Spartans chalked up 19 service aces. Blydenburg was good on all 21 of her serves with five aces. Mirmina was also perfect in her 17 tries with three aces. Strona added 15 of her 16 serves with another five aces. Hoffer chalked up 17 digs and Blydenburg added 14. Malinconico (nine kills), Sousa (five kills), Allison Denny (five kills), and Mirmina (five kills) were the winners top hitters. Mirmina also had 21 assists.

In addition to her 12 kills, Duran had five blocks and setter Casey Galvin was credited with 26 assists for the 5-3 losers.

On Friday night, undefeated Cheshire upped its perfect slate to 7-0 when it blanked Amity 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-20. Gina Buzzell (23 assists and seven aces), Kelly Gunnerson (10 kills and 8 blocks), and Kerry Chavoya (11 digs) came up big for the Rams. The losers were led by Mirmina, who was 16-16 from the service line (with two aces) and Allison Denny (eight kills).