Falcons Volleyball Looks to Elevate Program

Young talent, senior leadership and a new coach are the cornerstones of the Falcons volleyball team.

It is a well-balanced team with four sophomores, juniors and seniors, and the girls get along well and seem comfortable with one another despite the age differences, coach Lauren Duquette said.

Four sophomores are in their first of three years playing on the varsity squad: Zoe Salwach, Caite Wiacek, Sophia Menzo and Mikayla Baxter.

“The jump from junior varsity to varsity is just incredible.  Them seeing how hard the ball is going to come, them seeing how strong their block has to be, that is going to really make them successful,” Duquette said.

“That’s why I took a couple of them (sophomores) on.  At the end of the day this is going to make them better.  The next two years they’ll have the mental toughness that I need that I couldn’t have guaranteed without doing that.”

Senior co-captains Nina Pacella and Taylor Clift look forward to leading their team.

In the middle ground, junior Stephanie Sikorski was named to the all-tournament team with her performance as the Falcons setter in the Lakeland Tournament on Sept. 10.

The Falcons most impressive showing came at the MAC Kickoff tournament on Aug. 19.  They won the silver bracket, finishing ninth out of 24 teams at the tournament.

“Them understanding the way this program is going to play volleyball in terms of our defensive and offensive systems, our sets, how we approach each ball — that alone is going to put them at such an advantage in their future,” Duquette said.

First regular season match

The Falcons lost their first regular season match against crosstown rival Rochester Adams this week, 1-3.

“It was good to finally play together and get pumped up and excited, especially against our crosstown rivals.  We really looked forward to it even though it didn’t turn out the way we wanted,” Clift said.

The Falcons won the first game and had strong come-back in the final game of the match. They were down 9-18 at one point, and after a timeout fought back and ended up losing 24-26.

“I think the reason we played so well the first game is we were excited to play our rival in our first match," Duquette said. "We executed everything that we talked about in terms of watching film, and we did everything right.  But the second and third games we repeated everything that was working and they read us like a book."

“It was not something we gave up on; we worked hard but we need to get back in the gym tomorrow and work even harder,” Clift said.

Some Falcons already had revenge on their minds soon after their first regular season match finished.

“We’re a hard working team, and next time we play Adams we’ll crush them,” Junior Casey Kepczynski said.

“I think we tried our hardest and fought, but we should have beat them,” Junior Sydney Newton said.

“We know what we need to do to win, now we just have to make it happen,” Duquette said.

Coaching philosophy

Duquette is in her first year coaching the Falcons, but she has been a volleyball coach since she was 15 years old. 

“This is the most mentally tough sport I’ve ever coached,” Duquette said.

She has coached in softball and tennis clinics, and her competitive attitude is reflected in her work ethic.

“You have to work as hard as you expect your players to work, and if you don’t, then you don’t really deserve it in the long run,” Duquette said.

Duquette and assistant coach Larissa Virgin have been concentrating on teaching the younger players proper mechanics.

“Finding a way to keep them confident, you have to personally get to know each player on an individual basis.  That’s not just in terms of volleyball, but also their life, even shows they like.  At the end of the day, that’s what allows you to get in their heads the right way,” Duquette said.

Falcons goals soar

Duquette said her team set two goals last week:

1. To be the hardest-working team every practice and every match.
2. To be the loudest and most vocal team.

“Because we are young and somewhat inexperienced, these two things are critical to our success this season,” Duquette said.

“One of my favorite quotes is: ‘Don’t talk about it, be about it.’  I’m trying my best to help them understand the meaning of this and to put this philosophy into motion,” Duquette said.

“When we get in ruts, we just get down on ourselves, but we play really hard,” Senior Danielle Smith said.

Smith showed her senior leadership in the first match against Adams with a consistent serve and defense at the front of the net.

“I hope we have a winning season and that we make it to district finals like we did last season,” Smith said.