Whenever these neighboring rivals face off against one another it’s a no-holds barred kind of competition.
On Thursday night in Seymour, the defending NVL champion Wildcats took on the Ansonia Chargers and the volleyball net was still rattling well after the game.
Seymour was too much for the Chargers as the Wildcats came away with a 3-0 sweep by scores of 25-13, 25-21 and 25-18.
Seymour improved to 2-0 on the season as Ansonia slid to 0-2.
It wasn’t as easy as the score would indicate, as the Chargers battled back in games two and three, causing a few Seymour timeouts along the way.
What got in the way of the Chargers comebacks was the play of the Wildcats junior front line hitters Christina Cretella (10 kills, 5 assists) and Stephanie Burt (12 kills, 6 assists).
In game one Seymour shook off a slow start and bolted out to a commanding lead.
Cretella rose high above the net to make a save and set up Burt with a return that handcuffed the Ansonia defense. Mary-Kate Durette served up and ace for a comfortable 13-6 advantage.
Kayla Bleau extended the lead with a four point service run as the Chargers retreated to a timeout trailing 20-11. Cretella and Burt finished up the game taking turns in serve for a convincing 25-13 win.
“They can certainly pound the ball into the floor,” said Seymour assistant coach Heather Yablonski, about her two big junior hitters on the front line.
“Sooner or later teams are going to key on that and we need to get a few other girls into the mix. We are not just a two player team.”
Ansonia, armed with just two seniors, Kristen Pitney and Genesis Espinoza, were hardly going to back down against the Wildcats.
It was a 5-4 Seymour lead after four service exchanges in game two and the Chargers were making a game of it.
Brittany Brassell stepped into serve for the Wildcats and ran off a four point set to build a 10-5 advantage. The lead grew to 20-12 when the Chargers rolled up their sleeves and battled back.
Espinoza served up an ace and a service winner to close the gap. Courtney Egan and Sarah Phipps began to assert themselves in the front row and the deficit dwindled.
It was a 23-18 game after Heidi Schneider ripped off a pair of service winners.
Allyssa Goggi (8 kills, 4 blocks) served up back-to-back aces but the Chargers comeback fell short by a 25-21 margin.
“We are playing great defense,” said Ansonia head coach Brian Casey. “But we are a young team and we are committing too many unforced errors.”
“We are giving up an average of 15 errors a game and you can’t stay competitive like that. You don’t mind giving up point that a team earns but we can’t give away points like that.”
In game three Seymour again took the lead at 10-6, but this time they didn’t capitalize every time Ansonia faltered. After seven service exchanges Seymour couldn’t shake the pesky Chargers as they held a slim 19-17 advantage.
Durette finally stepped up in serve to give the Wildcats a little breathing room at 22-18 with some help from Kelly Mitchell and Carissa Wasikowski in the back row.
Ansonia got the serve but put it back into the net for the final time in spite of a tremendous return from Natalie Caneen. Burt closed out the three game sweep with a pair of service winners for the 25-18 final margin.
“There are no seniors on this team,” said Yablonski. “We came out a little flat in game three. We need to communicate better on the court to make sure those things don’t happen.”
“We just don’t have the power up front,” said Casey. “But if we cut down on our mistakes we can be competitive.”
On Monday Ansonia will look to get on the winning track when they travel to Wilby while the Wildcats will try and continue its winning ways as they visit Kennedy.