Lady Rams volleyballers take 4 of first 5 matches

September 20, 2023 at 11:45 p.m.

The 2023 Port Chester varsity volleyball team. 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. (Chloe Trieff/Westmore News)

It couldn't last forever. Port Chester won its first three fall season Lady Rams volleyball matches without losing a set against Roy C. Ketcham, East Ramapo and Scarsdale B in its latest home win last Tuesday (9/12). They made it 10 sets in a row before dropping their last two sets in a close loss to powerful Ursuline away in a match that could have gone either way last Thursday (9/14) and then bounced right back with a win in three straight sets away Monday (9/18) against Mount Vernon.

If you go just by the numbers, that tells you right away that the Lady Rams Vballers won four out of their first five games and their only loss was a close one.

Beyond the numbers

But beyond the numbers, you can also see that this is a very well coached team that is giving their all for their wunderkind new coach Stephanie Costabile who came to them after an outstanding high school and college volleyball career.

      

Costabile, a new teacher in the Port Chester School District, comes to the Lady Rams out of a winning private high school program (78-2 during her All-Star New England playing days at the King School in Stamford, Conn.), was the outstanding female scholar-athlete at Mitchell College in New London, Conn., and already has done VB coaching on a national and regional age group level as assistant director at Chelsea Piers Volleyball in Stamford.

Lady Rams listen

So, when Costabile talks, her Lady Rams listen and put her expertise to good use because she may look young enough to be one of her players but is already wise beyond her years when it comes to coaching.

And the results show.

In the Lady Rams’ latest matches, for example, Port Chester beat a talented Scarsdale B team by a score of 25-10 followed by two identical 25-11 sets. Camila Nunez had six digs, eight kills and six aces. Julianna Luzzi, the super eighth-grader, came through with 22 assists, five digs and five aces. And junior hotshot Nataly Suertegaray had eight digs, 12 kills and two aces. But just as importantly, the team bought into Costabile's philosophy of team play over individual tendencies.

Bow to Ursuline

Against Ursuline, the Lady Rams took the close first set 25-23 but lost the next two by identical 25-21 scores with the pivotal third set even closer at 26-24. But the Lady Rams went down swinging with a balanced attack that included Nunez notching 21 digs, nine kills and an ace while Luzzi dished off an amazing 32 assists, 18 digs and three aces, Suertegaray had a block, 37 digs, 20 kills and four aces, Esmeralda Navarro had 18 digs and an ace and Skylar Sams finished with two assists, 30 digs and two aces.

Despite those ups and downs, Port Chester didn't waste any time brooding about how close they had come to knocking off Ursuline. Instead, they bounced right back to beat Mount Vernon 25-12, 25-14 and 25-17 in three straight sets with the highlights including Luzzi's 21 assists, six digs and one ace and Suertegaray's 12 digs and 16 kills.

The road ahead

The VBallers’ next big test comes against Clarkstown North at home Wednesday (after press time) followed by Poughkeepsie away Friday (9/22) and Carmel Tuesday (9/26) followed by a return home match against East Ramapo next Thursday (9/28), all at 5 p.m.

By then, local VBall aficionados will have a better idea of just how good the Lady Rams really are. Because up until now, they have been very good indeed.