East Rockaway preps for county final

This season has been a roller coaster for the East Rockaway girls’ volleyball team with many peaks and valleys. But the Rocks are hoping, in the end, that the ride will eventually stop at the top.

As the lone ‘C’ team in Conference III, the Rocks (7-4) already have a date Nov. 6 with Carle Place for the county championship and are using their final games to gain some momentum. They started the season with three straight wins – matching their entire total from last year – before dropping three of four. 

The girls recovered from that with another three-game winning streak – all by 3-2 scores – before a tough 3-1 loss to first-place Garden City on Oct. 13. The teams split the first two sets, but the Trojans took the final two to sweep the season series. Nicole Zugnoni had 11 kills and four blocks, Sofia Ramirez had 12 assists, and Stephanie Lynch had 22 of the Rocks’ 76 digs that night.

“Garden City is very good this year,” said Rocks coach Ksenia Brito, who returned on Sept. 26 after giving birth to her family’s third child last summer. “We knew going into the game on Friday that it was going to be a tough one and, to be honest, we held our own. The first time we played them, they destroyed us.”

The moxie that the Rocks displayed that night has been emblematic of their season. They rallied from 2-1 deficits to win at Carey and Oceanside the previous two games, and four of their wins this season went the distance.

“These girls don’t stop,” Brito said. “Sometimes going into that fifth set we would be down by quite a few points and it’s like, ‘Why did you fight so hard to get here?’ and then it’s like, ‘OK, let’s go.’”

Zugnoni leads the team with 115 kills and is among the county leaders with 40 blocks, including 17 solo efforts. She split time at middle blocker last year and has come into her own as a senior.

“She just skyrocketed the second half of last season,” she said. “She came to camp this year, she has been putting together stuff for recruitment and I don’t know if it’s the focus on that, but when she’s on the court, it’s a different game.”

Lynch has a county-leading 247 digs. She was formerly an outside hitter, but Brito moved her to libero/defensive specialist, and it paid off.

“She wants to get every touch that she possibly can, which is a dream,” Brito said. “That might be the difference this year from last year. She is just able to touch so many more volleyballs to keep them alive and give us a chance to keep the point going.”

Ramirez is pacing the team with 171 assists and 22 aces and senior Isabella Alvarez has added 113 digs and 15 aces. Junior Grace Buffetti and senior Emma Poland have almost split 146 kills evenly with Emma Van Wickler and Shannon McMahon (41 assists apiece) providing depth at setter.

Isabella Colacino became the third Rock to surpass 100 digs against Garden City and fellow juniors Valentina Proto, Julia Giannotti and Cassidy Conklin have also made impacts.