Rye Neck Volleyball Off To Historic Start

While the Mamaroneck area has its fair share of powerhouse high school programs, the Rye Neck Volleyball team has quietly been forging an historic 2019 season that has roots in the team’s run to the Sectional finals in 2017.

Through September, the Panthers have a record of 17-2 and that includes a key tournament championship at Rye. They have a chance to set the regular season win % record at Rye Neck if they can finish off the season in strong fashion. But it’s not just the number of wins that impresses this season—it is how they have been winning. They have won an astounding 47 sets while only dropping 8 on the season, sweeping opponents in 16 of their 19 matches.

With less than 100 students in the senior class, it should come as no surprise that the current team features only 3 seniors. The senior trio of JuJu Spencer, Morgan Parker and Grace West have been playing together since 7th grade. All of them are captains and all of them have been on winning teams since they started playing.

One of the teams's two losses was to state power Haldane early in the season. The other one was an epic battle versus local large-school rival Mamaroneck High School, with the Tigers snatching a 5-set victory from the Panthers with a final set margin of 26-24 in front of a packed Homecoming gym audience at Mamaroneck.

What has been the difference in 2019 after a 9-10 campaign in 2018? There seem to be a lot of pieces to that puzzle:

• New Head Coach Allison Reynolds knows her personnel as she coached every player at some point as she was the JV coach for years
• They have incredibly strong foundations and All-League players at the key positions of libero (Spencer), setter (West), and middle hitter (rising star junior Alexa Guedez)
• The team instituted a new system that features just 1 setter (West). She has responded by breaking the school’s single match assists record, twice, including a whopping 53 against Mamaroneck.
• 6 players have experience from their 2017 Sectional finals run including juniors versatile Corinne Collado and front row towers Kyera Hutt and Maura Gabriele.
• The team did an intense camp at Fordham to bond and get ready for the season

A big stepping stone for the program was winning the Rye Tournament in September, where the team swept all of the opponents in each game including local rival Rye twice, including the title match. Winning all 6 games at the tourney allowed the team to showcase its depth while building some major momentum. Guedez was named MVP of the tournament, solidifying her rep as one of the biggest hitters in all of Section 1.

What will the rest of the 2019 season hold? Whether of not this team sets Rye Neck records during the regular season, the real test lies ahead during the playoffs. These Panthers are on the prowl!