The 2012 season was a pretty unforgettable one for the Woodland Volleyball team.
They finished last season with a 21-4 record. The girls made it all the way to the championship game of the Class M state tournament, the farthest any team has gone in the state tournament in the history of Woodland Volleyball. Even though they were defeated in a heated game against Ledyard, it was still a season of many accomplishments for Hawk’s Volleyball.
Most would think that these accomplishments would add pressure to the team for the 2013 season, but that is not the case for Woodland Volleyball. Instead, last year’s records stand as motivation and remind the girls what they are capable of accomplishing again this season.
“There was a lot of momentum coming into this season,” said head coach, Jim Amato. “I think all the returning players knew that we had some unfinished business and they came back with a goal in mind to finish that business.”
Many of those returning players have stepped up and absorbed the roles of girls who graduated like, outside hitters, Tayler Boncal and Nicole Fowler, who set a single season record for digs last year.
“Brianna Pacileo is definitely leading the team right now with her record number of kills for the history of the school,” Amato noted.
Amato anticipates that senior Sam Lee will eclipse a thousand assists this season, which will make her the second setter in Woodland Volleyball history to set such a record.
Juniors Abbey Rosato and Anna Khalid are also making it difficult for other teams to score points against Woodland.
“What’s really stepped up our game this year is that we can score on other teams and other teams are finding it difficult to score on us,” said Amato.
But before the team can reach their big goal of returning to the State Championships, according to Amato, the team has to stay focused on their smaller goals like qualifying for the state tournament.
And with an 11-1 record so far this season, the team has already won enough games to qualify for states.
“We’ve shown a lot of progress over the past weeks,” said senior Co-Captain Briana Pacelio, “and we know exactly what we have to do to get a chance to bring home the gold that we couldn’t bring home last year.
