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Team Leaders
Seniors from left: Ellie Nunes, Jade Desmond, Morgan Bonin, and Leila MacKinnon will lead the Woodstock Academy volleyball team this season. Photo by Adam Bottone.
During a preseason drill, Woodstock Academy volleyball coach Adam Bottone had an epiphany.
“It dawned on me that I have depth at every position that I have never had before,” Bottone said.
Take, for example, the outside hitters. Bottone can choose from his daughter, Liliana, who had 109 kills last year, Leila MacKinnon, Morgan Bonin and Reegan Reynolds. Three of those players, MacKinnon, Reynolds and Bonin, can also play middle hitter.
On the opposite side, senior Jade Desmond will be helped by sophomore Destiny LaMarre and freshman Vivian Bibeau.
“We definitely have the depth. We have a lot of people who can hit from multiple positions. We’re working on serve/receive and, as long as we put in the work at practice, I think we can accomplish our goals,” MacKinnon said.
That’s one of the reasons why Bottone expects improvement this year. The club battled through a five-win season last year.
“I’m more optimistic about what we will be able to achieve this year. We had three freshmen who started (varsity) and getting them that experience last year was huge. We played some tough teams. We had those COVID years, you didn’t really get the competition that we had before so last year was kind of back to normal but we had a lot of people get sick and that really impacted our season. I’m expecting much better this year,” Bottone said.
The Centaurs did lose some key players including outside hitter Aurissa Boardman who led the team with 215 kills and 188 service points and setter Annarose Avery who had 274 assists.
The setter position will fall, for the most part, to sophomores Sophie Gronski and Cassie Chabot and junior Mia Pannone.
Gronski was one of those freshmen who saw a lot of varsity action a year ago, finishing with 90 assists.
“She played club in the offseason and played a lot of tough competition including down in Orlando (Fla.) when she went down for an AAU tournament. When you are playing against competition like that, you can only do what your teammates can do because the ball is being hit so hard,” Bottone said. “She didn’t start a ton last season for us but got experience against some good teams. So I think she has seen enough to make better decisions than she did last year. She can set anywhere from most any position that she ends up receiving the ball, so I’m optimistic about her.”
The work behind the service line will also be key.
Liliana Bottone (143 service points) and Reynolds (126) return but the Centaurs also had Boardman and Avery (155) to count on.
“The girls that I have all serve the ball really hard. We’re really working on the float serve and jump floats. That’s not a huge concern of mine. What is will be can we keep it in (play) as much as we would like to,” Adam Bottone said. “I’m trying to get them away from the top spin because it’s such an easy ball to pass whereas a float serve drops out from underneath. Most girls can float which is awesome and now it’s just getting that contact point and the trajectory they need to make it that much more effective.”
The Centaurs also have the defensive play of Ellie Nunes (166 digs), Chabot (162) and Liliana Bottone (143). Other varsity players include junior Emma Kerr and sophomore Mia Sorrentino.
Another big plus, the team will not have to play in masks this season.
Schedule: Thurs., Sept. 8: vs. Ledyard, 5:30 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 10: vs. S. Windsor, 11:30 a.m.; Wed., Sept. 14: vs. Bacon Academy, 5:30; Fri., Sept. 16: at Ledyard, 5:30; Mon, Sept. 19: at Killingly, 6; Wed., Sept. 21: at Coventry, 5:30; Fri., Sept. 23: at NFA, 5:30; Mon., Sept. 26: vs. E. Lyme, 5:30; Wed., Sept. 28: vs. Fitch, 5:30; Fri., Sept. 30: vs. Griswold, 5:30; Mon., Oct. 3: at Waterford, 5:30; Wed., Oct. 5: vs. New London, 5:30; Sat., Oct. 8: vs. Newtown, 12:30; Mon., Oct. 10: at SMSA; 5:30; Wed., Oct. 12: vs. NFA, 5:30; Fri., Oct. 14: at E. Lyme; 5:30; Mon., Oct. 17: at Fitch, 5:30; Wed., Oct. 19: at Lyman, 5:30; Mon., Oct. 24: vs. Waterford, 5:30; Wed., Oct. 26: at Conard, 5:30.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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