Saturday, November 8, 2025
Barring a straight-set defeat to defending county champion South Side on Sept. 26, Plainedge girls’ volleyball has been rolling without much resistance in yet another successful campaign.
Coach Colin Fratik always knew that the Red Devils would be competitive, even after moving up to Conference A1.
“We won our conference last year and we had a lot of our starters returning,” Fratik said. “So a lot of these girls have been playing together for their second and third consecutive seasons. Going in, I knew we had a pretty strong team.”
South Side remains undefeated through eight matches and controls the standings, but with a 6-1 conference record, Plainedge is not far behind. On Oct. 10, the Red Devils earned their second 3-1 victory over Wantagh, which defeated them in the quarterfinals to end their 2024 campaign.
“For us to come back the following year and get a win [over Wantagh] was really big momentum for us,” Fratik said. “We've been able to kind of build off that.”
Barring the two games against Wantagh and another 3-1 victory over Kennedy on Sept. 15, all of Plainedge’s victory have come in straight sets. After the defeat against South Side, the Red Devils easily handled Lynbrook and Seaford to kickstart a new winning streak, which has since extended to three games.
Fratik credited setter Ava Nitsch as the engine behind the offense. The talented junior is Plainedge’s primary source of assists and has also proven capable at the net herself on occasion. In the recent victory over Wantagh, she earned seven kills to go with 30 assists.
Nitsch has also stepped into a key leadership role early in her varsity career, along with junior Savannah Speicher. Fratik said both have blossomed into integral team members since earning starting roles as freshmen. Speicher led Plainedge with 14 kills against Wantagh last time.
The Red Devils’ greatest strength has been defense, propelled by the likes of unsung heroes like junior Payton Wise, who earned a team-leading 19 digs in the uphill battle against South Side. Ava Gandolfo has also stepped up in this area and earned 15 digs against Wantagh in October to support Speicher and Murnane.
Plainedge’s ability to spread the ball across the front row has also given them a massive advantage. Speicher is far from alone, as Kennedy Murnane, Angelina Puglisi and Mia DiMarco have all earned healthy kill totals and have stepped up as needed.
Fratik said that Plainedge’s focus never extends beyond the next match, a common adage that seems to be highly effective. To this point, the Red Devils have made the most of an improving junior core to step forward in a new conference. They are one of two teams with a winning record in the group.
It will be tempting for them to look ahead to a rematch with South Side on Oct. 24, but five matches in between cannot be overlooked. They must first play Division, Elmont and East Meadow, three non-conference opponents with a combined 26-6 record. Rematches against North Shore and Mineola must not be overlooked either, even if they have already defeated both conference opponents in straight sets.
