By: Karah Provenzano & Nataly Garcia
The end of the 2023 Section One NYSPHSAA volleyball season is edging closer while the PC lady rams continue to get stronger. They have five games left in the regular season and a very high possibility of making their way through the first round of playoffs, which is something that the PCHS volleyball team hasn’t been able to accomplish in many years.
The season began prematurely with open gyms all throughout the summer where girls who wanted to try out made an appearance to show off their skills and shake off the dust collected over the off season. Finally, the grueling two week, two sessions per day preseason process began on August 21st and lasted until the 31st. There was an amazing turnout of over 60 girls, which is up from the past two seasons post COVID when there were no cuts and everyone made the team. The Varsity team roster consisted of 14 members and on JV, there were 13. The teams first debuted at a combined scrimmage held at Blind Brook High School against Blind Brook and Ursuline. Varsity managed to come out on top after sweeping Ursuline in two sets and tying with Blind Brook (1-1).
On September 6th, the lady rams stepped onto the court for the first game of the 2023 season against Roy C. Ketcham. They battled and won in three sets (27-25, 25-12, 25-21). For the rest of the month of September, the lady rams played nine more games, only dropping to two tough teams in long, nail-biting games. One of these occurred on September 30th against Ossining High School. The Saturday morning match lasted for two and a half hours with a back and forth with players sacrificing their bodies in order for the ball to not hit the floor. Ossining took the first set and Port Chester took the second. The game was tied, both teams needed to squeeze out two more sets to come out with the win. The gym was packed and the stands were shaking. Ossining won the third set after going into extra points (in volleyball you must win a set by two points). Port Chester defeated Ossining in the fourth set. Once again, the game was tied, this time 2-2. The fifth and final set was in reach for both teams. However, instead of being played to 25, it is only 15 points, win by two. The PC players, fatigued from the long game, with some of the girls playing the entire match, fell 4-15 against a much taller and very well organized Ossining team.
The Lady Rams are captained by senior defensive specialist, Cindy Laynes, and junior outside hitter, Nataly Suertegaray and they are coached by head coach, Stephanie Costabile and assistant, Amanda Manu who is a PE teacher at PCMS. Looking ahead into the second half of the month of October, the Rams face league competitors in White Plains, Fox Lane, and Horace Greeley for three out of their five remaining games. The six seniors on the team celebrated their senior night on Thursday, October 19th against Roosevelt High School at 5:00 PM.