Lady Ram volleyballers play 3 beautiful games

Net result was dropping 3 straight close matches

September 25, 2024 at 10:55 p.m.

Sophomore Amelie Reis, an outside hitter, plays defense, looking to pass the ball to a teammate as Camila Nunez looks on in hopeful anticipation of her success during Port Chester’s Friday, Sept. 20 home loss to Ossining. (Joseph DeCarlo/Westmore News)

Strange as it may sound, there is a special beauty in a well-played Lady Rams volleyball game—and last Friday's (9/20) home game against Ossining was a real beaut even though Port Chester lost in three sets, all three lost by two points.

What gave it that extra beautiful sheen was the way the close match unfolded like an aerial ballet, the players moving like athletic ballerinas dancing to an intricate, ever-changing choreography, the oversized ball dictating the beat, the cast using their interlocked hands like tennis racquets as they exchanged volley after volley with their opponents on the other side of the net.

Up, up and away

Up, up and away that ball went, sometimes as high as the gym rafters, the ball spinning, spinning, spinning, the players waiting for it to come down so they could set up a play that would send one of them to the far right or left side of the court, timing their leap to catch the ball at its peak and slam it over the net, sometimes hitting the ball hard, sometimes soft, every time hoping their rivals wouldn't be able to return it before it hit the ground.

And that's the way it went, time and time again, the goal being to get to 25 points scored first. And what a close race it was, that near basketball-sized ball yo-yoing back and forth, the Lady Rams taking the first set 25-23, Ossining getting their act together to run away with the second 25-13 and then holding on to win the third set and the decisive fourth 25-23.

The winning slams

The winning difference came down to the way Ossining put away the game with scores that soared like line drives right down the middle of the court while the Lady Rams’ shots were just a fraction off and hit the top of the net and bounced back instead of drop shooting their way to a pivotal point.

But it was the way those shots unfolded that made the game so special.

    Senior Nataly Suertegaray jumps up to hit the ball over the net to her Ossining opponents at home on Sept. 20.
 By Joseph DeCarlo   

Each shot involved a lot of playmaking, ball handlers timing the ball like point guards using their hands like racquets to set up the play that sent their hotshot soaring like she was going in for a dunk only instead of dropping the ball through a basket they were trying to hit it where they aren't. Meaning they were aiming at a spot on the other side of the net where the rival team couldn't reach it for a return before it hit the ground.

And that proved the difference. Because the Ossining gunner soared a fraction higher than her Lady Ram counterpart, hit it just a little bit harder and placed it a trifle better than Port Chester did. Hers was the better timed jeté in ballet terminology. And the Lady Rams' timing was slightly off, sending the ball into the net instead of over it.

‘Tough game to lose'

"It was a tough game to lose," Lady Rams head coach Stephanie Costabile said shortly afterwards.

"The girls worked extremely hard and are improving every day," she continued "They work hard in and out of the gym. Nataly Sauertegaray and Camila Nunez (our two captains this year) are helping lead the team on the court as pin hitters. Skylar Sams, Emily Garcia, Amelie Reis, and Karah Provenzano are all returners to our team, each playing a vital role on and off the court.

"Our new additions to the team are Gianna Sirena and Alicia Bambace on the outside, Analia Sosa and Cynthia Tuba in the middle, Alyssa Gagnon and Julia Wolff as our setters, and Keyla Guayllasaca and Sofia Greco are our defensive specialists. The girls are a dedicated group working hard to improve their game, bring home some wins, and importantly have fun together. "

Matter of time

Costabile, an All-Everything Connecticut prep school Vballer whose teams went 68-1 during her high school career and made the Academic All-America team in college, thinks it is only a matter of time before her Lady Rams start winning.

    Junior Skylar Sams digs the ball in the Lady Rams’ Sept. 20 game against Ossining.
 By Joseph DeCarlo   

It didn't happen this past Saturday (9/21) when they lost close during a multi-team tournament in Sleepy Hollow, dropping a deuce to Nyack and Fox Lane, both in three sets in the kind of contested games Costabile thinks the Lady Rams will start winning when the ball starts dropping the right way for them.

They will take two shots at that elusive W in away games Friday (9/27) against Horace Greeley at 4:30 p.m. and Saturday (9/28) against Lincoln at 10 a.m. But, whatever happens, W or L, it will still be a beautiful game, albeit it will become more beautiful if those three sets start going Port Chester's way. That may take time. But the time will come.