RHAM Volleyball » Media

Sachems Sweep into Semis (from the Chronicle)

rhamvb — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:42:20 +0000

Sarah Veilleux had 17 kills and 14 digs while Laura Smolinski had 28 assists as top-seeded RHAM rolled into the Class L semifinals with a 25-16, 25-21, 25-13 quarterfinal-round victory over No. 8 Fitch.

Kelsey Kirkpatrick (5 kills, 13 digs), Alicia Tripoli (6 kills, 14 digs) and Kara Trippel (17 digs) all had strong contributions for the Sachems (18-2), who took control with a 13-2 run to finish off Game 1.

RHAM, which has captured the last four Class M state titles, will faces No. 5 Farmington (17-3) in Thursday night’s semifinal nightcap doubleheader at Hartford Sports and Medical Science Academy at 7:30 p.m.

The Indians punched their ticket to the semifinals with a 4-game victory over No. 4 Guilford.

The other semifinal on Thursday night at 5 p.m. offers up an all- Eastern Connecticut Conference match- up between defending Class L state champion and No. 7 seed East Lyme (18-4) against No. 3 Woodstock Academy (19-3).

Thanks to The Chronicle for covering out games! http://thechronicle.com for subscriptions

RHAM nets win in clash of champions, by Rich Zalusky

rhamvb — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:27:00 +0000

It was late in Game 2 with the score knotted at 24-all when RHAM girls’ volleyball coach Tim Guernsey turned to his assistant Shaun Keane.

Guernsey had a feeling whoever won Game 2 would win the match because it was so emotional and so tense.

After saving two set points, RHAM was unable to come through on the third as East Lyme evened up the match at one game each with a 27-25 victory.

What was the message Guernsey gave to his team in the five-minute break before Game 3?

“We needed to make sure that we came out a little more energetic and a little more enthusiastic,” Guernsey said. “We needed to keep the pressure on early.

“And I just hoped what I was feeling — in regards to the outcome of Game 2 — didn’t turn out that way.”

For RHAM, things would turn out the right way as afternoon turned into evening Tuesday.

Laura Smolinski finished with 32 assists and Alicia Tripoli would finish things off with an ace on match point as 4-time defending Class M state champion RHAM (5-0) defeated last year’s Class L champion East Lyme (4-1) 25-23, 25-27, 25-19, 25-15.

“This was a great win against a great program,” Guernsey said. “We still have a lot of work to do and can’t have any letdowns along the way.”

RHAM and East Lyme will both play in Class L when state tournament time comes around.

The Sachems began to seize control of the match with a 4-point run late in Game 3 that opened up a 22-16 advantage with sophomore Sarah Veilleux (16 kills, 6 digs) and senior Kelsey Kirkpatrick (6 kills, 7 digs) providing book-ending kills.

Veilleux put away several eye-opening swings throughout the match, including one that landed between three players to close out Game 3, 25-19.

“Sarah just pounds the heck out of the ball,” Guernsey said. “She’s a lot more confident this year.”

The momentum from the closing stretch carried immediately into Game 4 as RHAM bolted out to an 8-0 lead behind three kills from Veilleux and seven service points from Kara Trippel (23 digs, 19-of-23 serving).

It also highlighted the passing ability of Smolinski, the latest in a line of quality setters for RHAM, a list that includes Mallory Mangan and Ellie Linden.

“Laura doesn’t need the perfect pass to set because she’s strong enough to get the ball up,” Guernsey said. “The pass just has to be high enough to get to her. She makes our passers and our hitters better.”

What was even more impressive was the play of RHAM junior middle- hitters Francesca Mack and Briana Geoghegan. Both were dominant in stretches in keeping balls alive as well as keeping East Lyme’s dangerous hitter — Raeann Nesta (22 kills) — in check.

“ Briana is a solid defensive stopper for us and Francesca is a little more aggressive-minded in the middle,” Guernsey said. “No question what they both did with blocks was key.

Against East Lyme, you don’t want Nesta to get herself going.”

Maggie Swenson finished with 37 assists for the Vikings, who never threatened once RHAM built its early Game 4 lead — getting as close as 18-12.

Consecutive kills from Kirkpatrick gave RHAM its first match point at 24-15 before Tripoli finished things out.

Down the road RHAM will face the likes of Southington, Glastonbury and Norwich Free Academy along with matches against an improved CCC East Division with Tolland, E.O. Smith and Rocky Hill.

“What makes us good is that we can attack from anywhere on the floor,” Guernsey said. “At times, though, even in the last game today, we were just hitting free balls over the net instead of just swinging to put pressure on them.

“We have to get out of the rut of playing safe all the time.”

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RHAM vs Barlow on CTSN

rhamvb — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 21:09:51 +0000

CTSN will present it’s first airing of the 2010 RHAM vs Joel Barlow State Championship game at 7:00 Dec. 3rd. Link

GLASTONBURY- For the fourth consecutive season, the RHAM Sachems won the Class M girl’s volleyball state championship, 3-1, over Joel Barlow.

Joel Barlow had no answer for RHAM’s Jocelyn Taylor, who led the Sachems with 18 kills and 3 blocks. Libero Kara Trippel earned tournament MVP honors.

Laura Smolinski also had a great game for RHAM, chipping in with 34 assists for RHAM, who also beat Joel Barlow in 2007 and 2009 for state championship wins.

Class M volleyball: Rough start, big finish for RHAM

rhamvb — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:38:16 +0000

Defeats Joel Barlow for 4th straight state crown
By Matt Buckler
Journal Inquirer

GLASTONBURY — The RHAM High volleyball’s team’s march to its fourth straight Class M title was interrupted Saturday by a word from coach Tim Guernsey.

And they weren’t complimentary words.

“In the second game, he called a timeout and Coach got in my face, he got into Kara Trippel’s face and he got into Alicia Trippel’s face,” RHAM’s Chloe Rishell said. “He said our passing was terrible. We weren’t reading the ball.

“And we’re the type of players that when you start screaming at us, we’re going to start playing better.”

Apparently, a motivated RHAM player is a dangerous player. And a championship player.

RHAM overcame a dreadful start to defeat Joel Barlow, 3-1, in the Class M finale at Glastonbury High.

RHAM dropped the first game, 16-25, and was trailing, 6-0, in the second game before Guernsey delivered a fire-and-brimstone sermon to RHAM’s back-row players.

The message worked. RHAM rallied to win the second game, 25-22, racked up the third, 25-12, and then scored the final three points to pull out a 28-26 win in the fourth and decisive game.

“Once we started passing the ball better, we started getting some kills at the net — it all fell into place,” Guernsey said. “We couldn’t have played any worse in the first game. Once the kids realized that the only place to go was up, the girls relaxed. But we had to challenge them first.”

When RHAM started to get the ball to its playmaker, Laura Smolinski, closer to the net instead of in the middle of the court, RHAM’s offensive productivity started to flourish. She wound up assisting on 35 of RHAM’s 94 points — better than one-third.

“Maybe we were a little intimidated in the first game,” Smolinski said. “But after about 20 points, that intimidation wore off. Barlow had never beaten us before and that kept us fired up.”

Most of the heat was supplied by RHAM’s weapons at the net. Jocelyn Taylor had 17 kills and freshman Sarah Veilleux and junior Kelsey Kirkpatrick each had 10 kills. Once the net players were warmed up, there was little Barlow could do about it.

“Definitely that first game was a wake-up call,” Taylor said. “We were a little nervous. But we all know what this team is capable of doing.”

RHAM specializes in pulling out the close calls and the fourth game provided the perfect example.

Taylor’s bomb at the net gave RHAM the lead for good, and then Veilleux drilled home the championship winner.

Don’t ask her how she did it, however.

“The only thing that mattered is that we scored the point,” Veilleux said. “I don’t even remember what happened.”

After all, winning close games is routine at RHAM.

“That’s what we do,” Taylor said, “We work on those situations every day in practice.”

“We left everything we had on the floor,” said Trippel, who was named the title game’s Most Valuable Player. “We were hesitant in the beginning, but as soon as we figured it out, we played well.”

Even with just two seniors remaining from last year’s championship team, RHAM kept on buzzing.

“This was so satisfying,” said Smolinski, a junior. “We were part of last year’s championship, but we really weren’t in it because it was a senior team. This one is ours.”

RHAM just didn’t follow the tradition of last year’s team, they enhanced it with its gritty comeback.

“RHAM is good, they have an aura surrounding them,” Barlow coach Stave Antal said. “I think they missed one service, and we missed a lot of services. And those points added up quickly. You can’t give a team like RHAM free points.”

“It’s such an emotional boost when your opponent commits an error, especially in rally scoring, where every mistake means a point,” Guernsey said. “And everyone served well for us. We didn’t beat ourselves.”

That’s why the No. 1 seeded Sachems were able to finish the season with a 21-1 record, only losing to Tolland in the Central Connecticut Conference quarterfinals. Barlow, seeded No. 3 at 19-3, lost to RHAM in the finals for the second straight year.

This makeup of this year’s team, however, was completely different than last year’s champs.

“It was an emotional season,” Guernsey said. “I think I was tougher on this group than any team in the last few years. But the kids responded.”

Especially to a blistering pep talk that at least three players on RHAM’s back row never will forget.

Article from The Chronicle, by Rich Zalusky

rhamvb — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:15:42 +0000

Chloe Rishell had watched from the bench while RHAM High won three consecutive Class M girls volleyball state championships.
Now a senior, Rishell was on the floor Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury High School in the starting lineup in the Class M final against Joel Barlow.
It took just five points into the match — all won by Joel Barlow — for Rishell to be one of the focal points of an eruptive storm that was building up inside of Coach Tim Guernsey during a time-out.
“Coach got right in three of our faces — myself, Alicia Tripoli and Kara Trippel — and just screamed at us,” Rishell said. “We’re all the type of people that if we get screamed, at we’re going to do better.”
RHAM lost that first game, 25-16, and fell behind in Game 2, 6-1, drawing more ire from Guernesy.
“It was gut-check time,” Guernsey said. “I wanted them to know they needed to play with some intensity and leave it on the floor. There was no tomorrow. This is the last day of the season. There is not another opportunity this year. It has to happen today and has to happen now on every single point.”
Facing adversity, RHAM responded to those words.
And when it was over, well, it turned out just the way things have played themselves out four years and running in Class M.
Freshman Sarah Veilleux provided the exclamation point on match point as top-seeded RHAM (21-2) rallied for a 16-25, 25-22, 25-12, 28-26 victory over No. 3 Joel Barlow (21-4) to wrap up its fourth consecutive Class M state championship.
The fourth title capped a span during which RHAM has won 75-of-77 matches dating back prior to the 2007 Class M tournament, a span that was more emotional than the previous three due to the fact that Guernsey admits he was a lot tougher and more critical of this year’s edition that featured just two seniors — Rishell and Jocelyn Taylor.
“I thought I was going to get teary-eyed at the end because I’ve been so tough and wound up so tight that they never really even had an opportunity to breathe,” Guernsey said. “I was so tough and critical of what they were doing because I know I’ll have the majority of them back for another year.
“And I want them to be perfect come next season.”
RHAM started to turn things around when it effectively dealt with one of its main problems early on with serve/receive.
Once junior setter Laura Smolinski was able to calm things down and give her hitters — Taylor, Veilleux and Kelsey Kirkpatrick — opportunities to swing away at balls, when those balls went down for kills, it allowed those nerves to disappear.
“We just had to play not only our best, but our hardest,” Taylor said. “The first game and the opening points of Game 2 were not the best representation of what we’re all capable of doing.”
The Sachems were tied 18-all in Game 2 and built a pair of 3-point leads, the latter at 24-21.
Sarah McAniff (15 service points, eight kills, 15 digs) saved one game point for Joel Barlow before RHAM won it on a passing error.
Taylor (17 kills) won three of the first four points off sets from Smolinski (35 assists) with Veilleux providing four service points as RHAM quickly built a 6-1 lead and rolled to a 25-12 win in Game 3.
Trippel (17 digs), who received most outstanding performer honors, won the first three points on serve to begin Game 4, which was looking like it might be another runaway when sophomore Francesca Mack had a pair of kills in a 4-point run that gave the Sachems a 16-10 lead.
Back came Joel Barlow, which has lost to RHAM in three of the four finals, with one last fight.
The Falcons caught RHAM at 19-19 and led 23-21 before what proved to be costly bugaboos — missed serves — reared their ugly head.
Miss one was followed by a kill from Kirkpatrick that evened the game at 23-23.
Down 24-23, Paige Damascus saved a match point for Joel Barlow. RHAM did the same thanks to Veilleux evening things at 25-25.
Then, with Joel Barlow again at game point, 26-25, another serve into the net tied things up for the final time.
Taylor put away the next ball and on the second championship point, RHAM turned to Veilleux (10 kills, 10 digs) on the outside right with a powerful swing that showcased her unlimited potential to come through when it mattered most.
“Sarah is such a perfectionist that she didn’t want to make a mistake in this setting,” Guernsey said. “The last three matches, she didn’t care about making a mistake, she just swung. I love that she ended things that way.”
Renee Wasko had 25 assists and 10 digs while Rachel Schenck added nine kills and three blocks for Joel Barlow.
For Taylor, who was on the bench for the first title as a freshman against Joel Barlow (2007) and started as a sophomore against Jonathan Law in 2008), it’s four titles in four years.
“It’s just an incredible feeling,” Taylor said, who is headed to Bryant University in the fall. “I’m so excited and honored to be part of each of these teams.”
What made this fourth title feel sweeter for Guerensey was that both his seniors were on the floor when the match was won.
Last year, RHAM’s lone senior, Kelsey Welling, was sitting next to him on the bench at match point.
“We were up 24-23, they were sitting next to me and in the back of my head I was thinking, ‘I wish they were on the floor,’ “ Guernsey said. “I would have hated to finish like that but we had an opportunity at the point to finish it.
“All of the titles feel great, no question, but it’s just great that both Jocelyn and Chloe were out there when it happened.”

Sachems Win in Five

rhamvb — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:55:58 +0000

Jocelyn Taylor and Sarah Veilleux combined on 30 kills and provided huge performances in the decisive fifth game as the RHAM girls volleyball team advanced to the semifinals of the Class M tournament, rallying for a 26-28, 25-16, 16-25, 25-21, 15-5 quarterfinal round victory over Sacred Heart Academy.

The top-seeded Sachems (19-2) trailed by four points in Game 4 before coming back to send things into a fifth game.

“We kind of rode that momentum,” RHAM coach Tim Guernsey said. “Going into the match, I knew it would be tough. One of the things I noticed was the Sacred Heart had lost seven of 10 final games this season. I felt when we got to the fifth game that we would take care of business in the final game.”

Laura Smolinski added 35 assists and Kara Trippel had 19 digs as RHAM, the 3- time defending Class M champions, will face No.12 Weston at a site and time to be determined in a semifinal round match Wednesday.

From The Chronicle – for subscription info go to http://www.thechronicle.com

RHAM Defeats Bloomfield in 3

rhamvb — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 19:04:29 +0000

Jocelyn Taylor had 19 kills and 3 blocks to lead the Sachems to their sixteenth victory this season. The team is now 16-1, and will face Rocky Hill on Friday.

New England Roundup: Connecticut

rhamvb — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 16:06:02 +0000

From the ESPN Boston High School area blog Blog by Matt Stout (link)

Tim Guernsey answered the question like he’s been asked it a million time before.

No, the RHAM volleyball coach doesn’t know how many consecutive games his team has won.

Really.

“Nope,” he said, chuckling. “I have no idea. It’s for writers.”

He does, however, remember the last time the Lady Sachems lost — to Farmington in the Northwest Conference final.

In 2007.

Nearly three years and three state championships separate then and now. Fifty-three straight wins do, too.

But the streak is hardly a concern for RHAM, one of the state’s most dominant programs in any sport despite starting just eight years ago with a coach who never played the sport and in a town — Hebron — that loves its soccer.

Inside the RHAM gymnasium, there are blue banners signifying league championships and gold ones reserved for state titles. As one would expect, the only number on the gold ones is for the year, not that number of losses.

“People are going to come into the gym and they’re going to notice 2010, they won a state title,” Guernsey said. “Not that they had 10 losses or no losses.”

Nevertheless, they’ve been hard to come by at RHAM. The Sachems lost just one game (yes, game!) last season en route to their third straight Class M title. They rode big hitters in All-State selections Kelsey Welling and Tessa Smolinski, also the Gatorade Player of the Year, and a group of seven seniors well-versed in winning.

They’re gone, but in a program that’s quickly built a legacy of success, little else has changed.

Gold’s the goal. Again.

“In 2005, I had eight seniors on a team that went 18-2 and lost in the (state) quarterfinals. Then, it was six seniors (who graduated), then it was one senior, then it was this group with seven,” Guernsey said. “It’s been an every-other-year cycle.”

This season, just two seniors remain in outside hitter Chloe Rishell and middle hitter Jocelyn Taylor, the latter of whom was part of RHAM’s eight-person rotation a year ago. Like clockwork, seven juniors stand behind them, including Tessa’s sister, Laura, a setter; Kelsey Kirkpatrick, another middle hitter; and Kara Trippel, a libero.

Since they were freshmen, they “have been waiting to get into the limelight,” Guernsey said — like every other class.

“We’ve all kind of experienced it,” Rishell said of winning a state title. “But we’ve all been on the sidelines. I think the thing that is going to drive us most is we want to say we were a part of it.”

Guernsey does point to one difference this year. For the first time since he started the program in 2002 — and went 0-18 — RHAM lacks that knock-dead outside hitter in its 5-1 formation, someone who can take the ball anywhere on the net and leave a smudge mark where the floor used to be.

That moves the emphasis to defense and quicker passing, meaning RHAM will try to turn volleyball, a game essentially of mistakes, into a flawless act.

Good thing the Sachems have this perfection thing down. Even if they don’t know exactly for how long.

All-Courant Team Announced

rhamvb — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:26:43 +0000

Kelsey Welling, Mallory Grosso and Tessa Smolinski have all been chosen for the Fall 2009 All-Courant Volleyball team. Smolinski was named Hartford Courant Volleyball Player of the Year. Ellie Linden and Jocelyn Taylor are listed as honorable mentions.

HITTERS

Lexie Broytman, Southington, Sr.

Katie Byrnes, Southington, Sr.

Jessica Frankowski, Farmington, Sr.

Krystie Luczynski, Berlin, Sr.

Stephanie Oliver, Coventry, Jr.

Lauren Ostafin, Avon, Sr.

Kyley Reed, Rocky Hill, So.

Mariah Roussel, Newington, Sr.

Tessa Smolinski, RHAM-Hebron, Sr.

Kelsey Welling, RHAM, Sr.

SETTERS

Dianne Gan, Conard- West Hartford, Sr.

Grace Kucharski, Avon, Jr.

Aleesha Quintana, Coventry, Jr.

LIBERO

Brittany Curtis, Coventry, Jr.

Mallory Grasso, RHAM, Sr.

HONORABLE MENTION

Hitters: Haily Beem, East Hampton, Jr.; Amber Bepko, Mercy, Jr.; Sarah Beres, Ellington, Sr.; Michelle Carilli, Coventry, Sr.; Kelly Draghe, Coventry, Sr.; Kelly Myers, Coventry, Jr.; Megan O’Brien, Haddam- Killingworth, Jr.; Liz Pacyna, Bristol Eastern, Sr.; Jocelyn Taylor, RHAM, Jr.; Paige Trusty, Coginchaug-Durham, Sr.

Setters: Meghan Feeney, Northwest Catholic-West Hartford, Sr.; Ellie Linden, RHAM, Sr.; Eleni Vossoughi, Hale-Ray, Jr.

Libero: Ashley Chasse, East Hampton, So.; Chelsey Weise, Mercy- Middletown, Sr.

Net Gain: Tessa Smolinski

rhamvb — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:23:04 +0000

Posted by Ben Rohrbach on ESPN

Backstage at the Gatorade Player of the Year Program, we’re constantly searching for what we call “three-pillar” candidates-those who possess athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character

We strike it rich with those contenders who seem to raise all three pillars a notch. RHAM (Conn.) High senior volleyball standout Tessa Smolinski was one of those candidates.

The 5-foot-9 senior outside hitter recorded 239 kills, 205 digs and 83 service aces this fall, leading Connecticut’s top-ranked team to a perfect 26-0 season and a third straight Class M state championship. Smolinski’s 13 kills, 12 digs and three service aces in a state final sweep of Barlow earned her a second consecutive state championship game MVP honor. Athletic excellence? Jackpot.

“She does everything really well,” said Coventry (Conn.) head coach Matt Hurlock. “She can dictate a match serving, defending and attacking. She has a good jump serve. I saw her in the state final, and she started with three or four aces. She plays back row. When we played them, we ripped some balls, and she got to all of them. She’s real fast. She’s not big, but she hits a good ball at the net. She just doesn’t make mistakes.”

Smolinski’s 4.63 GPA ranks her No. 5 in her graduating class. The section leader as flutist in her school’s wind ensemble, she has also competed in the Mathematical Olympiads. As the founder of Pre-wrap.com-an e-commerce website that sells pre-wrap headbands and athletic tape worldwide-Smolinski has served as a panelist at the Connecticut Youth Entrepreneur Seminar and as a speaker at the Conference for Teaching Entrepreneurship. Academic achievement? Jackpot.

With the proceeds from Pre-wrap.com, she has shipped care packages to U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and sent relief funds to Hurricane Katrina victims. Smolinski has also volunteered on behalf of countless community-service initiatives, including the Special Olympics, Unified Sports, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Rally. Exemplary character? Jackpot.

“I am grateful to have Tessa as a member of our student body,” said Scott Leslie, principal of RHAM High. “Tessa’s focus on academics and her success in the classroom, along with her commitment to a variety of extracurricular organizations exemplifies a student who takes full advantage of the high school experience.”

Her three-pillar excellence makes a nice platform for a further prize: 2009-10 Gatorade Connecticut Volleyball Player of the Year.