Improving from a winless 2020 season to a .500 record last spring, the Elmont girls’ volleyball team took the next logical step, hewing to the established trendline with a 14-0 finish this fall in Nassau Conference A/C3 to win its first conference title in five seasons.
Its players’ names pervading the upper ranks of conference and county statistical leaderboards, Elmont – which finished 15-1 overall after falling 3-0 as the 15th seed at No. 2 seed Wantagh Oct. 28 in the first round of the Class A playoffs – notched its first undefeated league campaign since 1997, when the Spartans won their last Nassau title.
Longtime Elmont coach Terry Ianniello said her club this season evoked strong echoes of the county championship squad she also helmed, and noted that the still-young Spartans had shown signs of another big leap early on. “Way back in summer I could see these girls were working hard,” said Ianniello, whose club dropped a total of two sets in the regular season, winning 13 matches by shutout. “Then, after the very first game, I told them, ‘You have no idea what strides you’ve made from last year.’ I could see they were going to be very competitive.”
“I knew they’d be good,” Ianniello added. “But I didn’t know they’d be this good.”
Elmont junior outside hitters Megan Ortiz and Yamen Imasogie finished first and second in kills in A/C3, respectively. Ortiz, an Honorable Mention All-County honoree last season, twice blasted a season- and team-high 20 kills and ranked fifth in Nassau with 214, while Imasogie compiled a career-best 145 kills, including a season-high 18 against visiting Great Neck South Oct. 18.
“My two outside hitters just dominate offensively,” Ianniello said. “And guess what, we get them back for another year.”
Spartans setter Gabriella Willaims led all of Nassau with 472 assists in the regular season and fired a league-best 74 service aces (No. 4 Nassau), while fellow junior Rose Joseph was third in A/C3 with 48 aces and had 100 kills at right-side hitter for Elmont. “Gabriella has such nice hands, and mixes stuff up so nicely that the other teams can’t read it,” Ianniello said. “She’s like a coach on the floor, too; she’s calling the sets.”
Leading the league with 26 blocks was Spartans senior middle hitter Savannah Lewis, while Elmont’s libero tandem of Xochilt Solario (senior) and Angel Anderson (junior) led the team in digs with 69 and 62 (tied with Imasogie) respectively. “My liberos are like a swarm of bees covering the court,” said Ianniello.
Certain to see much of its roster remembered when awards are handed out for the season, Elmont can count itself well-positioned for a run at a repeat title, with top players – including Ortiz, Imasogie and Williams – set to return. For the moment, however, the Spartans can take a well-earned breather and admire their (so-far) once-in-a-generation achievement.
“Two years ago we were young and couldn’t win, didn’t know how,” Ianniello said. “Last year, middle of the road. But this year, through lots of work, these girls learned how to win. They can all be very proud. I am.”
