Although the Greenwich Academy volleyball team graduated a bunch of talented athletes last year, head coach Christy Girard and the rest of the Gators still have their normal high expectations heading into this year.
“We have sort of a new team,” senior captain Paloma Corrigan said. “We lost eight seniors from last year, so we are kind of rebuilding our team. It’s a rebuilding year, but there are still high expectations here. We have such great potential and I think it’s going to be a lot with improving our technique and cleaning stuff up.”
Last season, GA advanced to the Fairchester Athletic Association championship match but fell to a top-notch and undefeated King School team, 3-1. In fact, in the FAA finals, Greenwich Academy had the lead, marking the first time all season King was trailing in a match. Overall, the Gators finished the season 9-9 overall and 8-3 in conference.
However, once the season ended, GA lost talented seniors like Caroline Zhao, Ellen Clark and Kayla Johnson.
“We graduated a large number of seniors,” Girard said. “We have some big shoes to fill. The biggest place we have to fill is our middles. We had Kayla Johnson and Ellen Clark there, and those were big, important people. They were our first lines of defense. The girls know that we have big shoes to fill, they understand that and are welcoming the challenge.”
Looking to replace Johnson is junior Natalie Threadgill. She has been learning the position from Johnson for the last couple of years and Girard is pleased with her progress.
“Natalie has to lead the blocking,” Girard said. “Not only does she have to do that, but she has to help develop the second blocker. She’s more than willing and able to do that.”
The Gators are still trying to figure out who will be replacing Clark as the second middle hitters.
Greenwich Academy’s outside hitters will be some familiar faces.
“It’s so much fun to be on this team,” Corrigan said. “It’s wonderful. All the kids on the team are great and always have the best attitude. They keep us up and keep pushing us to be our best. As a team, we keep in close contact with each other throughout the year and we are all really great friends outside the team. We have been working really hard as a team to get better.”
Both Phoebe Morris and Corrigan have been on the varsity team for four year and know what is expected of them. Being the team’s libero, Corrigan has the responsibility of being the Gators’ defensive specialist.
“Phoebe is a terrific leader, hitter, passer, server and is really strong,” Girard said. “Paloma is our libero and she’s a amazing. She’s so skilled as a libero and we are thrilled to have her back. Both Paloma and Phoebe are four-year varsity players and both do a great job. They are both strong mentally, physically and are ready to lead the team.”
As seniors and four-year varsity players, it was an obvious choice to have both Corrigan and Morris the co-captains for this year’s squad.
“It’s great here,” Morris said. “I love preseason and I love volleyball. This is my fourth year on the team, so I’m a veteran when it comes to this. It’s been really awesome to get to know some of the new players that are coming up. They are pushing us so hard, and that’s so much fun to see, because we are getting better every day. There’s no ceiling to our improvement and that makes it so much fun.”
Junior Jessica Liu will be the team’s go-to person when it comes to setting.
“She’s our main setter,” Girard said. “I am trying to work [freshman] Grace Ryan as a second setter, but Jessica knows she has a lot of responsibilities as a setter. Jessica is a hard worker and definitely digs.”
Another senior, Jadesola Ariyibi, will be an all-around player for Greenwich Academy. While she’s able to play numerous positions on the court, Girard is still finding the best spot for her to succeed. Coming up from the junior varsity team will be junior Alexis Morris, who Girard said has great instincts, moves to the ball and is a natural when it comes to the sport.
Sophomore Grace Zhao is a talented defensive and outside player. Coming into the school for the first time is fellow sophomore Casey Gottlieb, who a strong outside hitter.
In addition to the talented sophomore and upperclassmen, freshmen Madlin Decker and Grace Ryan will see some quality time on the varsity squad.
“This is the most talented freshman class that has come in,” Girard said. “The middle school did a terrific job preparing these girls. In past years, they would be JV girls that would occasionally start. However, our program has come a long way. We have a really strong seventh and eighth grade program that is very successful.”
While a strength for GA this year will come from the back row defense and the team’s serve receive, one of the improvements for the team needs to be its chemistry.
“They need to learn to work together,” Girard said. “We need to work on our transitions in between plays. That will be something big for us to work on because we lost so many seniors.”
One of the keys to success for GA has been the feeder program in the middle school.
“Our middle school program has been key to getting us going,” Girard said. “The coaches are always eager to learn and prepare them. The coaches know that their job is to prepare them to come up to the upper school, keep things fun, and also challenge the kids to make them better.”
Expectations at Greenwich Academy will be as lofty as ever, as Girard believes her squad can still compete with King School for the FAA championship.
“We’re going to be one of the top in the league again,” Girard said. “I do believe that we have the potential to win the league, but I think our biggest challenge will be King. They have a couple of great players that are good kids. They will be tough and so will Convent of the Sacred Heart. They have young players that are really talented.”
It’s amazing to see how far the program has come during Girard’s 15 years at the helm of the Gators. When she first started at GA, there were barely enough kids for a junior varsity team. My, how things have changed.
Under Girard’s watch, GA volleyball has won the FAA title numerous times and was the New England Class B champion in 2012.
“We didn’t even have uniforms,” Girard recalled. “We had T-shirts. Since then, our program has taken off. Our seventh and eighth grade team has 44 girls in the program and I think the caliber of play here is heads and shoulders better than it’s ever been. Around the area the caliber of play is leaps and bounds better than it has ever been.”
Now it’s expected every season that Greenwich Academy will make a run at FAA championship. Anything less for the Gators would be a step back—and that’s not what Girard and the rest of the team want to see happen.
“It’s really incredible,” Morris said. “We’ve seen so much growth. The biggest thing visibly that we’ve seen improve in the program has been our jump serving. When we were freshmen, we had two or three girls that were jump serving. Now it’s standard for our varsity players to be jump serving. That’s something physical we can see, and you can see it during every game we play. Internally, we are seeing how much coach Girard has been pushing us and wanting us to get better every single year.”
