With all of nearly 10 months to mull over last season’s loss to Harrison, Rye’s volleyball team came into Monday’s meeting with the Huskies looking for some measure of revenge, and a win over their rivals. They would get both, downing the Huskies in straight sets to improve their league record to 3-0.
Last year, Harrison edged Rye in a five-set nail-biter, but this year, thanks to a quick start, the Garnets were able to turn the tables and top the Huskies 25-16, 25-17, 25-10. According to Rye’s second-year head coach, Geri Jones, last season’s loss to the Huskies didn’t sit well with the four returning Garnets.
“We almost beat Harrison last year and we graduated nine seniors,” Jones said. “But the girls that returned remembered what that loss felt like.”
On Monday, Rye was led by a terrific performance by junior Jade Iadarola, who tallied 10 kills, 10 digs and seven aces to help her squad bury the Huskies. But it has been Rye’s ability to embrace a team concept, especially defensively, that has helped the Garnets get off to a perfect league record.
“There is a lot that we do well, and we’re not only a good offensive team, we train very hard on defense,” Jones said. “We work really well together on the court and the girls have had great chemistry so far.”
More importantly, added the head coach, the squad is simply finding ways to win. With only three seniors on the roster, the young Garnets team has shown great adaptability thus far, and parlayed that into a successful start to the season.
“They’re learning how to win, which is something we weren’t able to do last year,” she said. “They love to win, and winning is contagious.”
Harrison will look to bounce back from the loss to the Garnets on Sept. 28, after press time, when they travel to Pelham to take on a solid Pelicans squad. The Garnets will look to continue their unbeaten streak in the league on Wednesday when they take on a surging Eastchester club.
“I think we can always improve,” Jones said. “We need to be able to adjust to the other team’s hitters a little quicker and continue to be able to find a weakness, and we’re just going to have to take each team as they come.”
