Girls Volleyball Beats Lyman Hall, Breaks Losing Streak

Friday night’s 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-20) Southern Connecticut Conference--Housatonic Division victory over Lyman Hall enabled the Amity volleyball team to record two significant accomplishments. First the win snaps the Lady Spartans’ three match losing streak (Guilford, Branford, and Shelton). In addition it gave Coach Paul Thees’ spikers an 8-6 record. With that eighth win, Amity has qualified for both the upcoming SCC and state tournaments. The winners were led by Allison Denny’s nine kills. Kathryn Peloso was good on all eight of her serves. Allyson Mirmina recorded 12 assists. Alena Buonocore led the 3-9 Trojans with 17 assists and five service aces. Emily Wilson chipped in with six kills.

Earlier in the week, Amity dropped a painful 3-1 (25-8, 18-25, 25-23, 25-18), to Branford. Being a home match for the Lady Spartans and coming after they had blanked the Hornets 3-0 in Branford earlier in the fall made the loss even more painful. Following the setback to the 9-2 visitors, Thees held a lengthy post-game, closed door meeting with his team. 

“After we beat them 3-0 on their home floor, we allowed them to come over here and take the first game. That set the tone for the night. After that, we were forced to constantly battle back from behind,” Thees said.

He added curtly,"I don’t know how you beat a team 3-0 in their gym and then lose 3-1 at home. It’s a shame. That never should happen.”

Normally strong on service receipt, the Black and Gold had all sorts of trouble returning Branford serves in the first game. The 9-2 Hornets banged home 10 service aces (four by Anna Atkinson, four by Kelly Smith and two by Meghan Carlson.)

Thees added, “We didn’t communicate or talk with each other. We talk about that all the time in practice, but we weren’t clicking, especially in Game No. 1. We just didn’t show up for that game. We had only single digit points and one lone kill in the first game. That’s unheard of.”

With the opening game tied at 3-3, Atkinson aced four consecutive serves. The Hornets were leading 8-5 when Smith drilled a quartet of serves to the floor and ran off a string of eight serves in a row to extend their lead to 16-6. That string also featured a pair of perfectly placed cross court kills from Chandler Fowler. Carlson’s two aces were followed by kills from Tara Dering, Fowler, Atkinson, and Jen Dziura as Branford concluded the opener with a 10-2 run.

Amity seemed to bounce back nicely at the start of the second contest. A pair of Caitlyn Strona scoring spikes and Kristin Post’s block of a Hornet blast staked the Lady Spartans to an early 5-1 lead. Trailing 7-3, Branford went on a 7-0 run that showcased consecutive kills by Fowler, Atkinson, and Carlson along with a string of unforced Amity mistakes.

Now on the short end of a 10-7 tally, the Black and Gold answered with a run of six consecutive points that turned that three point deficit into a 13-10 lead. Amity’s spurt was highlighted by back-to-back kills from Rebecca Denny and a Post ace.

After Branford crept back within a point (14-13), the Lady Spartans closed out the contest with an 11-5 advantage. Post banged two blasts to the floor. Mirmina aced a serve and then dumped the ball over the net for another point. Dana Blydenburg added a final game-ending ace.

The third game was a see-saw struggle with the lead shifting back and forth. With the score even at 18-18, Amity committed four unforced errors. Fowler landed a kill and then caught the Lady Spartan defense off guard as she tipped a ball over the net for another point. Carlson recorded the game-ending point by stuffing an Amity hit back over the net and to the floor.

Amity jumped out to a quick 4-1 in game No 4 lead but Branford responded with a 7-1 run that saw Amity record another string of unforced errors as well as kills from Dering, Meg Wintz, and Carlson.

The score was tied at 21-21 when Fowler banged home three more of her 11 kills to end the match.

According to Thees, “We never got anything going tonight. Mentally, we weren’t ready to play. Instead of going after them and trying to win, we played safe tonight—like we were trying not to lose. After going on the road and beating them 3-0, we should never lose a match like this in our house.”

Allison Denny led the losers with seven kills. Post added six while Jessica Malinconico recorded four kills and a pair of blocks. Much to Thees’ dismay, his girls missed five serves but Strona was good on all 11 of her tries from the service line. Mirmina recorded 14 assists. In addition to her match-high 11 kills, Fowler also chalked up 10 digs. Atkinson added 10 kills and 15 digs.

After hosting Cheshire on Monday night, Amity visits Sheehan on Wednesday at 7 P.M.