Colin Fratrik didn’t have to read the tea leaves to know the Plainedge girls’ volleyball team was going to have a successful season.
The coach just had to check his roster.
There he saw a lineup that barely changed from a year ago, when the Red Devils were 12-8 overall and 9-6 in Conference 3, good for a tie for second place, and won their first playoff game in seven years.
“There was a good amount of confidence as well as excitement,” Fratrik said. “We pretty much returned every player, we only graduated two seniors last year. So, everyone on the team pretty much had varsity experience, which has been very helpful to us this year.”
Preseason confidence has, in fact, turned into regular-season success, with Plainedge first in Conference 3 heading into their finale against Wheatley Tuesday, inching closer to a first conference title since 2017.
Proof of concept came against Calhoun in their second match of the season. The Colts raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first set, but the Red Devils bounced back to win the opening set, 25-23, en route to an impressive 3-0 win over the current second-place team in the conference.
“That was a big confidence boost for us, just to show us we could beat a team of that caliber and then be able to come back from being down 10-0,” Fratrik said. "I think that really gave our girls a lot of confidence in their abilities.”
The Red Devils also showed their mettle by rebounding from back-to-back losses to Calhoun and Elmont to rattle off seven straight victories heading into their regular-season finale.
That resolve usually coincides with experience and the Red Devils have a ton of that. Setter Ava Nitsch, who was All-County honorable mention as a freshman, is the table-setter, second in the county with 365 assists.
Then there’s fellow sophomore Savannah Speicher, who was an All-County selection last fall. The middle hitter is ninth in Nassau County in kills (164) and third in digs (250).
“We run our entire offense through Ava. She doesn't come off the court, she's just a tremendous player, she has great vision of the court. She has a tremendous sense of where the ball is going and where the ball needs to go as well,” the sixth-year head coach said. “And Savannah is another player who does not come off the court for us. She’s our number one offensive threat and one of our best defensive players.”
Senior libero Gabrielle Bellocco has taken her defense to the next level, according to Fratrik, and Angelina Pugliesi, a newcomer to varsity, has jelled seamlessly with her teammates.
The emotional leader is Sarah Carter, the senior outside hitter who is a three-year varsity starter, while Mia DiMarco, a junior middle hitter, has also provided a spark.
