By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Stuart Country Day School volleyball program is in a transition stage. And the Tartans are excited about what lies ahead.
Stuart is in its first season as a full-fledged varsity program. The Tartans had been a winter club program in the past, but this year Stuart has made the transition to playing at the varsity level in the fall, along with most of the other programs in New Jersey.
“We have three seniors who are returning from the winter program and all the rest are new,” said first-year Stuart coach Anna Kachmarski. “This is our first year in the fall as a varsity sport. We used to play in the winter. I just recently joined Stuart. My assistant coach (Ken Ford) has been with the team the last few years.
“We owe a big thank you to the seniors. They really pushed for the program to move to the fall. It was definitely a team effort.”
Seniors Grace Freundlich, Tanya Grover and Sarah Du were with the program last year when the Tartans played in the winter. But with only a handful of schools playing the sport in the winter, matches were tough to come by. This year the team has made the move to season when most schools play girls’ volleyball and has a full schedule of 12 matches.
“The three seniors are helping the new girls make the transition,” said Kachmarski, whose program has a varsity and a junior varsity team this year. “Plus, Stuart promotes sports in general and extra curricular activities. The girls we have are such athletic girls. They have enjoyed learning the sport.”
In addition to the three seniors, the rest of the Stuart varsity consists of Sam Humbles (middle hitter), Shirley Xie (libero), Ronnie Zhang (defensive specialist), Maddy Freundlich (defensive specialist), Jasmine Lewis (outside/weakside hitter), and Nia Melvin (outside/weakside hitter).
“We started with about 10 girls and they networked through the school and found some other girls who were interested,” Kachmarski said. “The girls enjoy it. They are just getting their skill sets and trying to get better each day. We definitely want to give our girls the best experience possible and help them any way we can.”
The Tartans have yet to win a match and their goals for the season are modest. This season is one meant for development and growth of the program.
“We have about 12 matches this season,” Kachmarski said. “We had two scrimmages and have competed so far against Blair, Trinity Hall and Phillipsburg. It has been going pretty good so far. Achieving double digits has been a goal. We would like to win, but that is not our top priority. We want the girls to get to understand the sport and have fun. I think we are getting used it.”
This year’s team is laying the groundwork for what Kachmarski hopes is future success for the program. The players are learning and having fun, which is what their coach wants to see from the team.
“It is definitely a rewarding experience,” Kachmarski said. “The girls are just so happy to play. It’s nice to see their growth as players. They really are enjoying learning about the sport.
“We definitely have faith in the program. It is our first year and the girls already are so excited. We started with 10 and already have expanded. I think more will come out for the team next year. The girls will be more experienced and skillful and bring in some friends. At Stuart it is all about family.”
