Girls Volleyball is Back After a Long Break

by Brenna McLaughlin

The Niskayuna Girls volleyball team has waited almost a year and a half to get back on the court. Because of the high risk nature of the sport, both boys and girls volleyball was pushed to the Fall II season, which has been taking place since the beginning of March. The girls team is now entering its last week of play with an overall record of 9-6 and a league record of 8-4, which ranks them as the number two team.

This past week the Niskayuna girls won a Monday match against Bethlehem, but fell to the Burnt Hills girls on Wednesday. Most of their wins have been in games where the girls have won either 3 sets to 0 or 3 sets to 1. A challenging win that the team earned was a 3-2 set victory over Saratoga on March 24th. Another exciting game they had recently was their 2-3 set loss to Shenendehowa, which saw each set being heavily contested. Last year Niskayuna beat Shenedehowa in the Sectional finals.

Much of the teams success is due to their senior class, many of whom have been on the team since freshman or sophomore year. This class has depth across the court which has proven to be useful in many close games. I decided to interview two of the team's seniors who were both on the team that won sectionals last year.

Brenna McLaughlin: What’s different this season?

Anjali Kurian: Our coach is trying different rotations since one of the hitters got injured. Other than that it’s the same. with the exception of masks. Something I miss is that we are unable to do spirit days like we did before Covid.

Annika Waskiewicz: It was a little hard to adjust to masks in the beginning and since volleyball is a sport of communication. It was hard to hear each other in the moment at first but I think we got the hang of it. Games are a lot different because we haven’t been able to have spectators (at some games we can have a few but at others none at all) and usually in games it’s all about feeding off of each other’s energy and a crowd definitely helps that. This year we really have to focus on creating our own energy.

BM: It’s been a year and a half since your last season. Do you think this has affected your team chemistry?

AK: I think it was hard to get used to playing without 4 of our teammates from last year, but the new girls fit right in and we all get along so well.

BM: Any goals?

AK: Since we don’t have sectionals, our goal is to just have fun and play every game like it’s our last because there’s so much uncertainty with Covid.

AW: Coach always tells us before our games just to be thankful we even have a season this year.

BM: Is playing in the spring strange?

AW: I don’t think it’s that much different for me besides the fact that we lost a lot of people to other sports or to Covid in general.

AK: It actually feels the same, but with nicer weather.

BM: Is there a traditional championship at the end of the season?

AW: We usually have a postseason, but we can’t this year because obviously we’re trying to fit our season in between the winter and spring school seasons so our schedule is really packed.

BM: How would you sum up your time playing for Niskayuna Girls Volleyball?

AK: It’s really been great, I’ve been on every level (modified, freshmen, jv, and varsity) at least once and all of our coaches are amazing. I think my teammates make it the best because we’ve all been playing together for many years and we work so well together.

AW: Volleyball is always the highlight of my day and now I appreciate it even more because it was never guaranteed this year. I wish we could’ve had a normal senior season but I’m just glad to have had anything and to get to see my teammates that I’ve been with for so long.

This season has obviously been a meaningful one for the girls as they weren’t even sure that it would happen. We all wish them luck as they finish their season strong. Go Warriors!