A manda Nasta only plays in part of matches for the Jackson Memorial High School volleyball team that began this week with its best start ever, 7-1, but she has had an enormous impact on her team.
Nasta, a senior, is a libero (defensive specialist) who takes the court in a limited role like a designated hitter in baseball. She takes the court replacing 5-10 senior middle hitter Shannon Evans when she moves to the back in the rotation.
But Nasta has pushed her teammates because she has competed in almost every match despite playing in pain with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis that was first diagnosed when she was 15.
“I fight through the pain during the game, but the adrenalin takes over,” Nasta said. “Some days it’s harder than others.”
Nasta takes medication and has been cleared by her doctor to play, but says the greatest discomfort is in her knees and ankles. Although she has to put ice on her knees and ankles after every match, she still manages to do her part in digging the ball and passing it to the setters for the attack. She is third on the team in digs with 48.
“She is an inspiration to the whole team,” Jaguars coach Jason Ulrich said. “When she’s out there, you can’t tell she’s going through this, even though her joints are almost like an older person’s. When she plays, she’s the first to get the ball out with good passing.”
With any good volleyball team, that is the backbone of success.
“My coach always says that if you can’t pass, you can’t play,” Nasta said.
Nasta struggled a bit with her physical challenges last season, but this fall she has missed only one match, and that was because she got stuck in traffic returning from a medical appointment in Philadelphia.
“This is our best season so far,” Nasta said. “The team has great chemistry. It practices hard.”
The Jaguars won their previous four matches coming into this week and they made it five in a row on Sept. 26 with a 25- 10, 25-11 victory over Toms River North to run their record to 8-1.
The Jaguars were scheduled to play Southern Regional on Sept. 28. The Rams already own a win over Jackson Memorial this season. The only victory that went to three games was the Jaguars’ season-opening win over Jackson Liberty, 26-24, 24-26, 28-26.
“It was an incredible opening match, but we were not the same team then as we are now. We are starting to come together. It looks like this can be a special season,” said Ulrich, whose team was 14-6 last fall and lost in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals to Manchester and in the opening round of the state tournament to Southern Regional, the Jaguars’ third loss to the Rams that season.
In fact, Ulrich and Nasta see the team going far in tournament play.
“When we lost to Southern, we beat ourselves,” said Ulrich. “We made 30 errors, 30 uncontested points allowed over two games. You can’t make mistakes against Southern, If they don’t [make mistakes], this can be a special team. They are all stepping up. Right now there aren’t too many weak links. The key is limiting errors and forcing opponents to make mistakes.”
MaxPreps ranks Jackson Memorial No. 12 in the state.
“We’re strong in passing, serving and hitting, and if we don’t make mistakes, we’ll be getting wins,” Nasta said. “We want to get to the Shore Conference Tournament finals and to play Southern.”
Ulrich said that “serving is special” on the team.
“We serve so hard that teams can’t set up their offense,” the coach said.
The big components of that part of the Jaguars’ game are Evans and sophomore outside hitter Brianne Roath, a transfer student from Florida who has proven to be a solid addition to the team. Roath has 30 aces and Evans has 24. Evans also has a teamhigh 15 solo blocks.
As for setting, Ulrich said the Jaguars have two good players in Aiyana Delfin, a senior up from the junior varsity, and Kim Matlock, a junior who was a hitter last fall. Kim’s twin sister, Courtney, has been moved from middle hitter to outside hitter and has a team-high 42 kills. Both Matlock sisters are 5-8.
When Delfin rotates to the net, she is replaced by Brittany Szabo, a 5-7 senior opposite hitter who is the only left-hander on the team. Senior Kariann Kapila was moved from outside to middle hitter and had a team-high 71 digs coming into the week