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10/20/2019 12:00 AMThe East Haven volleyball squad clinched its berth in the SCC and Class L State tournaments after earning divisional victories versus Sacred Heart Academy, Career, and Wilbur Cross last week. The Yellowjackets improved to 8-5 overall and now stand with a record of 6-0 in the SCC Quinnipiac Division. While he was pleased with these results, Head Coach Craig Brown said that his team will stay hungry and is now ready to accomplish its next set of goals.
“Obviously, the first goal of every season is to make the playoffs. We were able to put solid players in great positions to develop. Through that development, we’ve been able to win and clinch our postseason berth,” said Brown. “But once you accomplish the first goal, you set new goals. After qualifying, now we want to win 10 games minimum. Second is we want to win our division, which we have a good shot at for the first time since 2015. After that, we want to win at least a first-round matchup at both SCC and states.”
With its unblemished record in divisional play, East Haven is in the driver’s seat to win the Quinnipiac title. The Easties will finish their Quinnipiac Division schedule with home matches against Lauralton Hall and Cross on Friday, Oct. 25 and Wednesday, Oct. 30, respectively.
“With the new SCC division rotation, we play a lot of good teams,” Coach Brown said. “If we win Friday or next week, we’ll lock up the division title solo.”
The Yellowjackets were riding a four-match win streak following last week’s action. Coach Brown loves the fact that a different athlete is making the biggest impact in each contest.
“We have a lot of players that can contribute, which puts us in a good situation on any given night. Every night, we’re lucky enough to have a girl step up and do enough to put us over the top versus these other teams,” said Brown. “Somebody different seems to step up when we’re in a tight spot, which makes a big difference for us. It’s led to a lot of wins.”
One player that Brown and assistant coach Amanda Bradley can rely on in every match is senior captain Samantha Schlottman. Whether or not her name shows up in the box score, Schlottman always makes sure that the Yellowjackets are buzzing on the court.
“Sam is the glue. That’s why she’s our captain,” Coach Brown said. “We trust her to keep everyone together in the court and in the locker room. Girls aren’t afraid to look to her, and she definitely keeps the team rolling. It’s great to have someone like that.”
East Haven started off last week by rallying for a 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-3) home victory over Sacred Heart Academy on Oct. 14, marking the team’s second win against the Sharks this season. It was a come-from-behind effort for the Yellowjackets, who won the fifth set convincingly behind a 10-point rally with junior Tori Heaphy on the service line. Heaphy finished the match with 12 digs and seven aces for East Haven. Junior Carly Cordova had seven kills and 10 digs, while Schlottman added five kills and one block.
“When we play a good team like Sacred Heart, who is an up-and-comer, it’s the fact that we’ve been there and done that before,” said Brown. “All of these girls want to succeed. Even when we make bad plays, when it gets down to nail-biting time, they pull it together. It was tied and then, all of a sudden, we were up big after Tori serving.”
Two nights later, the Yellowjackets completed a season sweep of Career by earning a 3-1 (24-26, 25-18, 26-24, 25-13) road victory in New Haven. Coach Brown praised the work of Career’s coaching staff, noting that the Panthers played East Haven tough in a pair of 3-1 matchups this season.
“This year’s Career team is the best Career team in the last 20 years. They’re a much better team than they were in the past and made us work for our wins,” he said. “It’s great. I wish the whole conference was this competitive every year. I’d rather we play 20 tough games than any that are a freebie.”
East Haven still came away with the victory, led by an excellent performance from junior Bella Ragaini, who had 36 assists to go with seven digs and seven aces. Junior Taylor Salato finished with 13 kills and seven blocks, and fellow junior Megan Gaudioso contributed seven digs with three aces in the playoff-clinching win.
“We just found ourselves in the right situations with a different girl stepping up each set. We actually lost our first set and were down early in game two until Bella went on an 11-point scoring streak,” Brown said. “We went from down five to up six. She’s not a big-time ace getter, but was smart enough to move the ball around and find their weak links or holes. Everyone saw that, and we stepped up and had a winning mindset the rest of the match.”
On Oct. 18, the Yellowjackets were back in New Haven to take on Cross for the first time this season. East Haven swept the Governors by the final score of 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-15) to earn its third Quinnipiac victory of the week.
Since East Haven and Cross have quite a history on the l court, Coach Brown said that his athletes were revved up to play the match. Freshman Nicole SanGiovanni had 10 assists, freshman Autumn Clancy dealt out four aces, and freshman Jessica Urban chipped in with one block for the Easties.
“They were a 12-win team last year, and they’re one of the old Oronoque Division rivalry games,” said Brown of cross. “We went in there and did a good job with ball control off the bat. We ran a good offense throughout the course of the night.”
While East Haven is looking forward to its last two divisional matchups, Coach Brown is also eager to see how his team fares against Amity and Cheshire as the Yellowjackets try to avenge a pair of defeats from earlier in the season.
“It’s just a game of adjustments,” Brown said. “Guilford, Amity, and Cheshire put us in situations where we make errors. We’re looking to change things up and hope to be in a better position to succeed and win more points.”
From the Sidelines
The East Haven volleyball team’s roster features senior captain Samantha Schlottman; fellow seniors Bella Ragaini, Eliza Goldberg, and Alexia Dottori; juniors Gia Buonfiglio, Brooke Clancy, Carly Cordova, Tori Heaphy, Kayla Goodrich, Taylor Salato, and Megan Gaudioso; sophomores Magdelena Barthel and Kayla Stefania; and freshmen Jessica Urban, Adrianna Geremia, Adriana Franceschi, Madelyn Camera, Lily Gagnon, Autumn Clancy, Julia Nargi, Alice Stettinger, Nicole SanGiovanni, and Gianna Bernovich.
Craig Brown in his ninth season as the Yellowjackets’ head coach. Program alum Amanda Bradley is an assistant coach for East Haven.
The Yellowjackets have home matchups against Woodland, Lauralton Hall, and Cross remaining on their regular-season schedule. East Haven also has road matches with Amity and Cheshire prior to postseason play.