Back to School: Edgemont Volleyball

Last year Edgemont's girls volleyball team enjoyed a fantastic season as it went 14-2 and played in its first home playoff home match in approximately 20 years, which it lost as the No. 8 seed to No. 9 Rye.

"We were the No. 8 seed because of our schedule," Edgemont coach Bill Glassman said. "Rye was 12-6 but played a tougher schedule."

Looking to build off that post-season appearance and lead the Panthers into this season are seniors, setter Barrie Tovar, outside hitter Abbie Wang, libero Christine Rubenstein and Remi Cohen, who will play numerous positions, with her best attribute being her serve according to Glassman.

"Because of Barrie and Abbie, we ended up 14-2," Glassman said. "They are very driven to succeed. They don't want to do anything halfway. They want it perfect."

The two Panther co-captains make sure that their drive to succeed rubs off on their teammates.

"They have a tendency to drag kids with them," Glassman said. "They won't accept something that's not the way they want it."

Rubenstein and Cohen didn't play as much as the Panthers co-captains did a year ago but Glassman said that they will make plenty of contributions this fall.

"They sat, they waited their turn and Christine and Remy now see this as their opportunity to get into the starting lineup," Glassman said.

These four players' leadership will be invaluable this fall as they are Edgemont's only returning players.

All of Edgemont's other players played for the JV team last fall except for freshmen Tinli Yarrington, an outside hitter, and Vivian Zhong, whose position hasn't been determined yet. Both played on the modified team a year ago and are volleyball junkies who play the sport year-round.

After playing the high-school season, the duo tried out for club volleyball in December and played that in January, February and March.

Then Glassman opened the gym in Edgemont two evenings a week, in April and May, where any girl at Edgemont in the ninth through 12th grades could come in. They showed up every single night it was open. They also played on Edgemont's team that competed in the summer league at Pelham in addition to going to volleyball camp.

"A lot of kids, they play other sports during the school year, which I personally think is a good thing—but these two just play volleyball," Glassman. "Obviously, when you pick up a volleyball 10 months a year you are going to be a better player than someone who just plays the sport three months a year."

One of the key players coming up from JV is junior Lauren Stuzin, whose size at 6-foot-1 makes her a natural for her position of middle hitter, and who worked on her game during the summer at two volleyball camps at Cornell University.

"Lauren is going to be somebody who's going to stick her fingers, hands and face in the opponents' big hitters," Glassman said.

Another junior middle hitter who came up from JV and should play a key role for the Panthers this fall is Melanie Klerer.

"Hopefully, we will be able to neutralize some of the other teams like Eastchester and Pelham that hit the ball hard," Glassman said.