Dragon Ladies breathing fire in 3-0 home sweep of Rye Neck
By John M. Benson
October 4, 2007
When Dover rolled over Rye Neck in straight games this past Wednesday, October 3, the season record improved to 6-5 overall, and coach Jen Fisher and her very young Dragons showed that they have accomplished remarkable and dramatic improvement in just the first few weeks of the season.
As Fisher said after the very impressive win, “After our loss to Brewster on Monday, we were all pretty down. We had lost a few in a row, and really needed a pick-me-up. The girls stepped up on Wednesday and didn't give Rye Neck a chance to develop any momentum on offense or defense. We beat up on them pretty good, and we are looking to do the same to Blind Brook tomorrow.”
Because volleyball is a sport that requires such fine touch, such fine control in a thoroughly frenetic environment, confidence is a very important factor. These Dragons are developing a confidence in themselves and their teammates with each successful point in the matches.
“Our strengths include our attack and team cohesiveness,” Fisher said. “We need to become more confident as a team, continue to work on our defense, which has shown significant improvement from day one, and our consistency. That all comes with experience, and we are quite young for a varsity squad. We advanced to section semi-finals last year, where we lost to Ardsley in four games. We lost four starters off that team, and we are doing quite well this year considering it's a ‘rebuilding’ year.”
The way these young Dragons are playing, Fisher will soon be able to change ‘rebuilding year’ to ‘reloading year’, when her young protégés are playing to their full potential as the season progresses.
The roster includes senior Taqiyya Averhart, juniors Julia Chopay, Shevon Allen, Katie Infantino, Tashawna Averhart, Cody Anderson and Meaghan Somers, sophomores Sarah DeVries, Isabella Robisheaux and Shannon Slater, and freshman Aislynn Merling.
Fisher said that her starting lineup features senior Taqiyya Averhart, juniors Julia Chopay and Katie Infantino, sophomores Sarah DeVries and Isabella Robisheaux, and freshman Aislynn Merling, with junior Tashawna Averhart rotating into the front row for Robisheaux.
Taqiyya Averhart, the one senior, is the binding and driving force on this Dragon team. Averhart is a fine volleyball player who is the all-important force as the middle hitter and blocker, who displays very soft hands in the back row on defense, and who is the spiritual leader of the Dragons on the floor… and she does it all with a glowing smile that is contagious among her teammates and helps to keep it all focused and fun.
Coach Fisher has outstanding athletes to work with, but considering how little varsity experience most of her players have, she has done a remarkable job of getting the Dragons to work together in the very intricate positioning and maneuvering that are part of competitive volleyball.
Taqiyya Averhart, Sarah DeVries, Katie Infantino and Julia Chopay are the only returning players with experience, with only Chopay and DeVries having started last year, when Averhart rotated into the front line and did not play back row.
Aislynn Merling, Meaghan Somers, Tashawna Averhart, Isabella Robisheaux, Shannon Slater and Cody Anderson are all new to the Dover varsity this year.
Setter DeVries is very consistent in her work with hitters Taqiyya Averhart, Chopay, Merling and Tashawna Averhart, and all six of the starters are adept at defense and passing off the serve from the back row.
Dover set the tone for the match with Rye Neck with powerful play right from the first few points of the first game.
The pass from Chopay to the set by DeVries to the kill by Averhart tied the first game at 3-3, the pass by Averhart to the set by DeVries to the kill by Chopay put Dover in the lead to stay at 4-3, and the intimidating block kill by Averhart put the lead at 5-3 and firmly established Dover’s dominance of the net for the rest of the match.
Merling served all the way from 3-3 to 11-4, serving one ace, and aided by a kill by Chopay, three kills by Averhart, and the one block kill by Averhart. Dover got the serve back on the very next point on another kill by Averhart, who then served all the way to 16-5 including two aces on wicked sinking fastballs that fairly dug a hole in the wooden floor of the gym. Using very consistent defense and a very strong offensive attack, Dover got five service points from Chopay, a strong kill by Tashawna Averhart, and three service points from Robisheaux to finish out the 25-10 dominance in game one.
Rye Neck is a very good volleyball team. The visitors got their footing in the second game and, while Dover continued to play well, Rye Neck made a contest of it and pushed the Dragons all the way before Dover won it at 25-21 to take the 2-0 lead in games.
The Dragons re-established their dominance in the third game, winning it at 25-13.
Coach Fisher was able to get playing time for reserves Cody Anderson, Shannon Slater and Meaghan Somers, all of whom played well in the final game that completed the sweep in the match for Dover. The work of these reserves in practice, and the focus, cheering and enthusiasm in the matches, are a critical component of the success of this Dragon team.
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