The Woodland Girls Volleyball team came out on fire against Ansonia on Wednesday, October 7th.
After losing to Seymour earlier in the week, the team came back to their home court more motivated to return to their winning ways.

Head coach James Amato believes losing a game could make a difference.  “We went in and prepared differently,” he said. “We were no longer undefeated and instead of trying to protect, we were attacking.”

The girls did not trail in any of the three games that were played. They dominated in each game beating Ansonia with scores of 25-17,25-15, and 25-16.

Woodland made sure to jump out with early leads.

In the first game, the girls came out to lead Ansonia , 5-0. Ansonia fought back, but Woodland kept their heads high. With the score at 18-13,a timeout was called, and Woodland jumped up with 7 points to make it 25, while they held Ansonia to only 3 points to end the first game.

During the second game, with all girls working hard, Woodland again took control of the game early. They showed Ansonia what they are made of, leading them the whole way by two points or higher.

When Woodland was tested by Ansonia, they had an answer, bringing the score from 9-7, and allowing Ansonia only 3 points to make it 17-10.

Ansonias’ Senior Kristen Pitney was working hard, giving Ansonia eleven digs. Junior Sarah Phipps had seven assists in the loss to Woodland.

After being a force in the first two games, they closed the third game with another effective score of 24-16.

What made them so effective in this game was the offense.  ” We finally found the floor,” said Amato.  “We were able to put the ball down, and able to serve. We were getting six to seven points on the board before a service error.”

Junior Jessica Patrizi helped Woodland to their victory while providing them with nine assists. Seniors Emily Hutvagner and Stephanie Badale were agressive putting kills on the floor. They contributed six kills each.

Amato was pleased with his team’s defense. “We played good defense; [Ansonia] had a hard time putting the ball down. We were like Visa–everywhere they wanted to be,” Amato said.

The Woodland Hawks travel to Wilby to take on the Wildcats on Friday, October 9th.