East Hampton’s girls volleyball team is looking for its first win of the season after losing its home opener to Islip, 3-0, on Sept. 14 and two road matches to Westhampton and Rocky Point, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. But the players haven’t lost their enthusiasm.
“We are senior-heavy so everyone is excited for their last season,” said Abigail Downs, the team’s head coach. “Home games for us — the first one especially — bleachers are packed, families are here. We love playing at home and the girls just get so excited.”
While Bonac lost to Islip in straight sets, 25-20, 25-18, 25-22, the girls fought back in the third set to give the Bucs a run for their money, raising the energy level in the gym.
“We threw Taylor Rade in for the third set. She went in the second for a little bit, but in the third set, she just brought some crazy energy,” Downs said. “Alexa Schaffer, in set three, had three amazing, crazy kills, and her mom, Shelly, is yelling in the stands at her the whole time. Natalia Melendez is a phenomenal libero and she’s one of my captains. She is energy all day long. She’s out there yelling positively and kind of bringing everyone up.”
Coach Downs says the Bonackers consider themselves underdogs in most matches. While they can work on communication and moving together as a full squad, they have plenty of strengths.
“We are really great with our sets. Our defense in the back row is phenomenal — their ability to get the ball up and playable to our setters. Our hands are really great. Our setter connection is really good. Our right sides are swinging like crazy. Because our girls are seeing that setter-hitter connection, our hits really are great,” Coach Downs said. “Our service is typically pretty good too. All of our girls have a jump serve. For the most part, they use them. But our service has really picked up and we saw that today.”
The girls’ next home game is Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. against Westhampton.
