By BRIAN JENNINGS
STAFF WRITER
They are flawless on the year with three matches under their belts, but the Lady Knight volleyball team still has the hefty part of the schedule still ahead. Doing a better job of playing to team strengths and limiting team weaknesses will be a work in progress for Knights over the coming weeks.
“We’re a Class LL school that doesn’t have Class LL height,” said Southington coach Rich Heitz. “We have to try to do some things to mitigate that as best we can. We’re working on that. It’s just going to take a little bit of time.”
Heitz also said that ongoing success is going to take a team effort as the Knights rely on fundamentals and quickness to overcome height issues.
“Every night, there’s going to be a different player stepping up,” the coach said. “There’s no superstar athlete that’s going to be on the front page of the sports section night in and night out.”
Win at Conard
SEPT. 11—The Knights began the week with a 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-23) sweep at Conard.
“Conard had some confidence and held close in sets two and three,” said Heitz. “Our ball control wasn’t where it needed to be where we were comfortable with it.”
Erica Bruno paced the offense with eight kills and three blocks. Hannah Zelina went 18-for-22 serving with six aces. Brooke Cooney went 10-for-12 behind the service line with three aces. Lyndsey Danko anchored the defense with 10 digs, and Stephanie Zera dished out 32 assists.
Win at Bristol Eastern
SEPT. 13—A couple days later, Southington rounded out the week with their third-straight win and another 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-17) sweep at Bristol Eastern. The Knights have yet to drop a single set on the season.
Unlike their match at Conard, the Knights held sizeable leads in all three sets of this match, up as much as 15-5 in the first set and 19-10 in the second set.
“There were some spurts where we allowed them to get three or four points in a row, but I definitely think we played better than we did Monday night,” said Heitz.
Stephanie Zera went 14-for-15 serving with four aces and dished out 25 assists. Hannah Zelina anchored the team in front of the net with four blocks. Sarah Myrick and Erica Bruno paced the offense with six kills each, and Nolyn Allen anchored the defense with 23 digs.
The Knights will be back on the hardwood this week against RHAM (3-0) and Glastonbury (1-1) before traveling to John Jay High School in Cross River, N.Y. on Saturday, Sept. 23 for the John Jay Invitational. Southington is currently 3-0 overall and tied for first in Class LL.
For this week’s box scores, click here: (southingtonobserver.com/2017/09/19/weekly-scoreboard-for-the-sept-22-edition). To contact sports writer Brian Jennings, email him at BJennings@SouthingtonObserver.com.