By Guy Kipp, Sports Writer
Although each of the two victories of its initial varsity season come equipped with an asterisk, the Monroe Township High School girls’ volleyball team will nonetheless build on those triumphs and use them as part of the foundation of the program.
Both of Monroe’s victories came against John F. Kennedy of Iselin, which itself is not a full-fledged varsity level program. Two weeks ago, Monroe defeated Kennedy, 25-15, 25-18 in the closing week of its 20-match season.
”Our win came from the demonstration of great teamwork and focus on setting up for the spike,” said Monroe coach Susan Winfree. “Our starting six players stayed positive and focused and had a good groove, so they played the second game, as well.”
Senior Monica Kupczak turned in one of her best efforts in the victory over JFK with three kills, two assists, two aces and three digs. Other standout efforts against JFK came from Brianna Malvone (two kills, two assists, one ace, one dig), Elaina Hansen (three kills, one ace, two digs), Amy Kalback (two assists, two aces), Brooke Klag (one kill, two assists, two aces) and Radha Shah (two assists, one kill, one ace, one dig).
The following day, Monroe endured a road loss to one of Middlesex County’s top-tier squads, Old Bridge, 14-25, 14-25, before wrapping up its season with a 23-25, 25-21, 12-25 loss to Freehold Boro.
”The girls might not have gone out with a victory,” Winfree said of the loss to Freehold, “but they did go out with a bang. They played solidly in the first two games of the match. Defensively, we played well, receiving hard serves and digging up the spikes. We just seemed to run out of steam in the third game—something that we’ll be focusing on next year, as it has taken a bite out of us in seven of our matches this season when we have gone to a third game.”
Klag had four digs, three kills and three aces, Shah had three aces and Kim Allegro had three digs, two kills and two aces against Freehold.
Klag led the Falcons in kills, aces and blocks this season. Allegro topped the squad in digs, and Shah paced Monroe in assists.
”Hansen was close behind Klag with kills,” Winfree said, “and Malvone demonstrated all-around dependability when she stepped up mid-way through our season.”
Malvone saw her court time increase after an injury to senior Rachel Friedrich, one of three12th-graders on this year’s team, along with Sydney Normil and Kupczak.
Kim Gregor, Kathleen Ruotolo and Meghan Williams were three underclass players who showed considerable potential during the campaign.
”There is growing interest among underclass and middle-school level girls,” Winfree said. “We had 10 freshman players this year. We plan to run a clinic this summer to develop skills and introduce a higher level of play to middle-school students.”
