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12/13/2017 11:00 PMJunior Diana Kalman helped the East Haven volleyball team notch 21 victories and advance to the championship game of the Class M State Tournament this fall. Now, Diana is ready to use all of her big-game experience to everyone’s benefit next season, when she will serve as one of the Yellowjackets’ senior captains.
“Next year, we’re hoping to apply that same great attitude of just everybody pushing everybody. We’re losing four of our starting players from this year, meaning a lot of girls are going to have to step up,” Diana says. “It’s all about supporting each other as a team and doing everything we can to stay together and keep each other up.”
Diana put together a great year as a middle hitter for East Haven during her recent junior campaign. She says she’s excited about taking on the new challenge of captaining the team as a senior.
“It’s going to be a big adjustment to know everyone is staying positive. I have to inspire the team to stay up and not be negative about anything,” says Diana. “I’m just going to have to stay positive with the girls. Me and fellow captain Megan Roberts will do a good job of keeping everyone working hard.”
Diana proved a major threat to opposing squads at the middle hitter position this year. Not only did her number of blocks go up, but Diana also slammed home 145 kills, which was the third-highest amount for Head Coach Craig Brown’s squad.
“She was able to contribute to a higher level, which in turn helped us add another weapon, which helped lead us to a championship-game experience,” Coach Brown says. “It’s huge. If you can add somebody to the middle, outside, or right side that the other team has to watch out for, it forces them to sit back and opens up spots. Her being in the middle forced other teams to sit their middle and make sure she wasn’t hitting. They had to wait to release to try and block Summer [Onorato] or Kylie [Schlottman], which saw a majority of our sets last year.”
Diana has been a middle hitter since she started playing volleyball in the 7th grade. Diana’s height makes her the perfect fit for that spot and she finished second among the Easties with 36 blocks for the recent season.
“I think my blocking is a very important job. I’ve always tried to focus on that, because you don’t always get as many sets offensively as an outside hitter would. So I really focus on my blocking and doing whatever I can do to get a kill whenever I do get a set,” she says. “I know what I’m doing when I’m blocking. It’s about positioning and pushing my hands to the right spot. It’s just about being aggressive, wanting the ball, and timing. Once you get a hitter’s timing down, it’s easier to keep blocking them. You can start predicting where they’ll hit the ball and position your body.”
Diana also plays third base for the Yellowjackets’ softball team and has a strong arm that enables her to fire the ball across the field. Diana already feels eager to begin the spring season and plans on bringing the same energy to the diamond that she displayed on the volleyball court, while ideally contributing to another deep postseason run.
“I’m hoping to bring that great attitude to the softball team. It’s something I think is really important, but is just kind of harder in softball, because it’s a slower moving game,” says Diana. “I feel that staying positive and bringing that attitude to the softball field will greatly help us. I hope we go as far as we did for volleyball this year.”
As a true team player, Diana likes to see everyone on her squads succeed. Diana knows that her teammates appreciate her energy, and she’d love nothing more than to help either of her teams win it all before she leaves East Haven High School.
“As a team this year, we really had great chemistry and were always working hard and always encouraging each other on the court,” says Diana. “I really believe in my teammates. I believe in everyone. Whoever gives it their all and has heart, we can get to where we need to go.”