Lady Rams Vballers lose in playoffs but finish season with winning record

November 8, 2023 at 11:57 p.m.

Members of the Port Chester High School volleyball team warm up for a game during the fall season. (Chloe Trieff/Westmore News)

Before the fall high school sports season ever started, new Lady Rams head volleyball coach Stephanie Costabile said her goal was to have her young, relatively inexperienced team play meaningful games before ever-increasing crowds all the way into the post-season—and they did just that.

The Lady Rams Vballers finished the regular season 11-9 before losing to higher-seeded Mamaroneck away last Tuesday (10-31) in the first game of the one-and-done playoffs.

Making the playoffs

Just getting into the playoffs with a winning record represented quite an accomplishment. Because volleyball isn't very high up in the Port Chester fall sports hierarchy where soccer is king because of the school's heavily Latino student body, football and baseball are lesser sports, Track & Field is an also ran in cross-country, swimming and tennis are up-and-coming from way back and volleyball has always been something of an afterthought.

Until now.

    The Port Chester Lady Rams volleyball team finished the fall season 11-9 before losing to Mamaroneck in the first game of the playoffs. Back row, from left: Camila Nunez, Nataly Suertegaray, Yanairis Tejeda, Kayla Rodriguez, Julianna Luzzi, Emily Garcia, Esmeralda Navarro. Front row, from left: Cindy Laynes, Skylar Sams, Nataly Garcia, Karah Provenzano, Katherinne Cano, Ava Ramos.
 By Chloe Trieff   

The winning tradition

Because Costabile comes out of a winning tradition—she played on a Greenwich High School team that was 68-2 over her four years and went on to play VB at Mitchell College in New London where she graduated as the school's outstanding female scholar-athlete. She also came to the Port Chester School District with a background as a travel team coach for the Chelsea Piers regional and national age group teams out of Stamford.

So even though she looks as young as her players, she knows what she is doing on and off the court.

And the difference was noticeable from the very first practice.

She stressed unity and team play from the get-go as in no individual heroics, all for one, one for all, and good things will happen.

And they did.

Off to fast start

The Lady Rams opened with six consecutive shutout wins before dropping their first game close to a powerhouse Ursuline team.

And they did it with style, new uniforms, music flooding the gym during warmups, the girls applauding key shots, serves and defensive moves after points scored on the court as well as from the bench where the subs did their own celebratory improvised dance steps.

"It's the best Lady Rams volleyball team I've seen in a long time," said ex-Ram football player Eddie Palermo, the Port Chester VB superfan who has seen almost every home volleyball game over nearly the past two decades.

What he saw with this team was a new united front represented by players who understood the choreography of the game, the precision passing flowing into perfectly timed leaps up to meet the ball and send it over the net with killer shots landing into the point of no return on the other side. In brief, the team looked as though they knew what they were doing and enjoyed doing it together. And they played like a team on a mission.

That team blended a joyous mix of youth and experience revolving around the usual starting lineup of senior Esmeralda Navarro, juniors Nataly Suertegaray and Camila Nunez, sophomores Emily Garcia and Skylar Sams and precocious eighth-grade playmaking wunderkind Julianna Luzzi.

The key role players

They all played key roles all season long including in the post-season playoff loss to Mamaroneck, looking good even in defeat. Because they made it close against a powerhouse Tigers team, losing in three sets 25-12, 25-22 and 25-19. But the loss was a lesson because five of the six usual Port Chester starters will be back  next year with their eye on making the playoffs again and going deeper next time around.

"Nataly and Camila were my key hitters with their kills with Julianna assisting them by setting," Costabile said after the Mamaroneck game. "And Skylar and Esmeralda were heavy on defense in the back row with their multiple digs."

And then there was the strong support from a bench that included such talented players as seniors Nataly Garcia, Katherinne Cano, Cindy Laynes and Yanairas Tejeda and junior Karah Provenzano.

The learning experience

"The girls learned a tremendous amount this season and really worked as a team," said Costabile. "They ended with a winning season which was a huge accomplishment for them."

And for Port Chester and Costabile.

It was the inspirational new coach's successful first step in turning around a losing Lady Rams VB culture.

Which is why the returning Vballers can't wait for next year to come because they will be a year older, wiser and, hopefully, a lot better. Especially when they come up against the powerhouse teams used to rolling over lesser Port Chester teams The rivals are going to be in for an unpleasant surprise because these ever-improving Lady Rams have already upped their game and are out to prove they can play against the Westchester area's best like the Ursulines, Mamaronecks, Fox Lanes and Ossinings. They plan on being pushovers no more. Just wait and see.