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Guilford Volleyball Has the Potential for Another Big Year

The Guilford High School girls’ volleyball team is coming off of one of its best seasons in recent history. With several key players returning, the 2020 campaign is shaping up to be more of the same for Head Coach Laura Anastasio’s squad—provided that fall sports wind up taking place.

Guilford finished with an overall record of 23-4 after winning the Southern Connecticut Conference title and advancing to the final of the Class L State Tournament in 2019. In the SCC final, Guilford rallied for a 3-2 (25-11, 15-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-10) victory over Shelton to capture its first conference crown since 1994.

“We’re coming off a very successful season,” Coach Anastasio said. “We are returning a lot of starting players, and two of our returning players were selected as All-State last year. We are also returning several seniors that have playing experience, as well as a talented group of underclassmen to build the team up in the future.”

Those returning players that Coach Anastasio alluded to are senior captains Emma Appleman and Juliet Young, who earned All-State First Team and Second Team honors, respectively, in 2019. Appleman is an outside hitter, and Young suits up at the libero position for Guilford. Last season, Young led the team with 405 digs and 75 aces, while Appleman was right behind her in aces with 55, in addition to leading the team in kills with 400. Appleman also tallied 197 digs on her way to being named the SCC Player of the Year.

Another key athlete coming back for Guilford is senior middle hitter Emily Brouder, who made the All-SCC Second Team last year. Brouder was second in kills for Guilford with 206 on the season. Coach Anastasio is hoping that these athletes get a chance to lead her team on the court.

“Emma and Juliet were instrumental for us last year, and we are hoping that we will have a season this year,” said Anastasio. “From what I know right now, we are expecting to have a 12-game season with some sort of localized tournament at the end of all of that. It’s hard to put goals and expectations out there when we don’t know if we will be playing, but we are trying to remain optimistic.”

The possibility of playing the fall sports season remains up in the air as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season is scheduled to get underway on Thursday, Sept. 24, but the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) recently put all fall sports activities on hold.

“Volleyball is considered a moderate-risk sport, and I think that’s because we are indoors and it’s easier to spread in a confined space,” Coach Anastasio said. “It’s really hard to plan with the delays continuing. If we do move forward, there’s all sorts of different outcomes that we will have to plan for.”

Anastasio is staying optimistic that Guilford will be able to play, because Connecticut’s COVID-19 numbers remain low in comparison to the rest of the United States. In Vermont, high school volleyball matches are going to be played outside instead of inside this fall.

“I’m torn, because I think safety is a huge thing right now,” said Anastasio. “Being inside makes it a little more difficult. As a teacher and coach for so long, I know it’s important for sports to run. The kids had a really hard time when spring sports were cut. As of right now, with the numbers that we have, the serious cases being so low, doing it now sounds like it would be best. If it looks like this past spring, I don’t think it would be feasible.”

Other players returning for Guilford include seniors Zoe McClure, Carson Halbower, Olivia Ciocca, Megan McNamara, and Julia Kinney, along with sophomore Corrine Puchalski. If her club does get to play volleyball during the coming school year, Coach Anastasio expects Guilford’s veterans to mesh effectively with a promising corps of up-and-comers to produce another solid season.

“We are going to miss our seniors from last season, but the good thing is, we are returning a lot of our talent from last year, and we will look to build off of what we lost from last year,” Anastasio said. “I’m also looking forward to meeting the new faces that could help us out this year.”