Fox Lane volleyballers start new season on an old familiar court

Skylar Kucera Kondi digs one up in the back row as Foxes open the season on the middle school court. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO

By JIM MACLEAN 

The Fox Lane girls varsity volleyball team opened the fall season with its first match on an old familiar court as the Foxes hosted Ursuline on Sept. 1, on the court at Fox Lane Middle School.

With the construction issues unfolding for the high school gym, Fox Lane will play its varsity matches on the middle school court, the same court where many of the girls competed with modified and junior varsity teams.

“It is unfortunate, but the district has done an amazing job making sure all of the teams have what they need, so flexible finding outdoor gym space, in a situation that could have been really bad the athletic administration is making it work,” Fox Lane coach Kelli Bravo said. “We scheduled three home games in the first week, trying to get as many league games in as we could before the modified schedule starts up.”

That first official game was against Ursuline on a hot and humid day with a lot of new faces on the court for the Foxes. Ursuline jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead winning the first two games, but Fox Lane fought back to win the third game and push hard in the fourth before the Koalas closed out a 25-15, 25-7, 21-25, 25-17 victory over the Foxes.

Despite the loss to open the season, it was an impressive comeback as the Foxes came together as a team and played hard to the final point.

Alexa DeMartino makes a pass. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO

“I was proud of them, they needed that, and I’m hoping that gives them confidence to carry into the rest of the season,” Bravo said of the third-game rally. “We have a mix of veteran seniors and new sophomores playing together, learning to play alongside each other and trust each other. We have a lot of girls working really hard at practice and I feel really confident with our bench and can rotate them in to plug holes.”

Leading the way for the Foxes is starting setter Alexa DeMartino, a three-year starter and a four-year varsity player. Ava Rose Kalarchian is another varsity veteran as an outside hitter, and Jordyn Forlenza returns as a middle hitter. Evangeline Santos is another returning varsity player who was at libero last year and moves to an outside hitter role this year. Seniors Siena Palmer and Ottilie Kimmel also return. Add in sophomores like Zoe Brown and Olivia Madubuko at the net, and the Foxes have a deep roster for Bravo to work with.

Jordyn Forlenza makes a play at the net for Fox Lane. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO

That depth came in handy in the third game against Ursuline for the Foxes. With the score tied 18-18, the Foxes took control, winning four-straight points with Skylar Kucera-Kondi serving and a kill at the net from Caterina Tanzi. DeMartino closed out the game with an ace.

Fox Lane kept it up in the fourth game with kills from Kalarchian and Tanzi to tie it up at 7-7, but Ursuline reeled off eight-straight points to take a 15-7 lead. Trailing 19-9, the Foxes tried to rally back with five-straight service points from Kimmel to make it 19-15. DeMartino had a roof block to cut the Koalas lead down to 22-17. Ursuline was able to score the last three points for the victory, but Bravo saw a lot of positives in the first match of the season for her team.

“Alexa has really stepped up in a leadership role,” Bravo said of DeMartino. “Ava Rose (Kalarchian) has grown tremendously since last season, she came in ready to rock. Jordyn (Forlenza) also came in ready to rock in the middle. Liv (Madubuko) is one of the fastest learners I’ve had, and Zoe (Brown) was a blocking machine today.”

Fox Lane was set for a busy week, facing Brewster on the road on Thursday, hosting Ossining on Saturday, and then hosting John Jay on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Ottilie Kimmel serves. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO