Vikings Volleyball Looks To Build Off Past Success

The Schreiber Vikings varsity volleyball team is coming off a very successful season, which included a 19-3 record and a trip to the county finals. However, the ending wasn't exactly what the team had planned when it was defeated by Plainview, 26-24, in the fifth and deciding championship game.

This year, the team has one goal in mind, according to senior tri-captain Adam Epstein: to win the championship.

"Before the season even started we had one main goal, which is to win the county finals," Epstein said. "But we know we need to work harder than every other team to achieve that."

Having lost only three seniors to graduation, the Vikings will have nearly the same team they had a year ago in their finals run. With an additional year of experience under their belts, coach Maria Giamanco expressed the high expectations she has for her players.

"My expectations for the season are pretty high," Giamanco said. "I have basically my entire team back with the exception of three players. So we're kind of picking up where we left off last year. We have very far to go in our progress, but we have a very solid foundation. I'm very optimistic about the season."

Giamanco praised the leadership and talent that her three captains, seniors Epstein, Daniel Bernstein, and Sung Kim, bring to the table.

"Adam Esptein has tremendous athletic ability," Giamanco said. "He serves well, plays great defense, and his attack is phenomenal. I expect him to really be the main focus of our offense. Dan Bernstein is an outstanding outside hitter. He blocks well and serves well, and plays very big at the net. Meanwhile, Sung Kim has been doing a fantastic job running the offense to this point. He makes very good decisions on the court for our attack."

Like Giamanco, the three captains also have very high expectations for the season.

"We definitely have experienced players and the skills to win the finals," Kim said.

Giamanco also went on to gush about the abilities of several other players on the team, including freshmen Jong-Ho Byun, junior Ben Adler, junior Daniel Chu, senior Yorman Marambio, senior Andrew Vasquez, junior Michael Murphy, and senior Dean Takahashi.

"The reason I highlighted a lot of players is because I have so many returning players," Giamanco said. "And I really feel that I have nine or 10 legitimate starters. It is a very nice feeling as a coach to be able to look at your bench and have a large number of athletes you can pick from."

The team had just three losses last year, with all of them coming at the hands of the eventual county champion, Plainview Hawks. However, Giamanco insists that the team isn't solely focused on beating Plainview this year.

"Our focus isn't only Plainview, although they are very well-coached and well-disciplined," Giamanco said. "But Massapaequa is exceptionally strong. I think that us, Plainview and Massapequa are all evenly-matched and all three of us are capable of winning everything. So we're not just focusing on one team, but on climbing the mountain one step at a time."

The Vikings will take the first step in climbing that mountain when they visit Farmingdale on Wednesday, April 7, at 4:45 for its opening match of the season.