After a slow start to the season, the Windham Bombers’ volleyball team is bouncing back in a big way. The Bombers’ resurgence continued when they swept Northeastern Athletic Conference Stripes Division rival Bloomfield 25-12, 25-18 and 25-18 last Thursday evening at Marty Hill Court in Windham.
“Bloomfield has a scrappy team, but we came out on top and we worked hard to get there,” said Coach Lauren Gintert. “Anytime we come out with a 3-0 win it is definitely pushing the kids and inspiring them to keep sweeping.”
Getting off to a 0-2 start is never ideal for any team but since the Bombers’ (4-3, 4-3) first half of their schedule is against NAC Stripes Division rivals, the ninth-year coach acknowledged that her squad had even less room for error.
Despite a winless start, the Bombers have rebounded with last Thursday’s victory marking the team’s fourth victory in its last five matches. Despite having only two seniors on the roster, Gintert said that her team has been persistent, and its hard work is paying off as evidenced by the team’s latest hot stretch of play.
“We were trying to find our stride,” noted Gintert. “We lost five seniors last year, so it took a little time to kind of get into the groove of things, but they figured it out.”
Last Thursday, Windham got off to a fast start by dominating the Cardinal in the first set to clinch a 25-12 victory. According to Gintert, the Bombers started playing with a lot of energy and a competitive mindset.
Bloomfield swung the momentum in its favor in the second set by taking an early lead and maintained its advantage until the halfway point, leading 15-12.
Gintert said that the Bombers were becoming complacent, a troubling trend they had experienced in most of their matches this year, but they turned things around by outscoring Bloomfield by a 10-3 margin to win the second set 25-18.
The Cardinals remained competitive in the third set, and although Windham led from start to finish, Gintert said that Bloomfield stayed within two or three points until the Bombers pulled away in the end to complete the sweep.
Senior outside hitter Sara Giugni paced Windham by recording 19 kills and six blocks.
Having joined the team after coming to Windham as a foreign exchange student from Italy, Gintert said that the Bombers’ senior has helped set the tone for Windham’s offense on a team that graduated most of its outside hitters.
“It is a huge boost,” noted Gintert. “Prior to Sara, we lost all four of our hitters. It is tough and it is nice that we have Sara to guide them and help them learn from her this year, but it is tough to fill those shoes.
Although the Bombers graduated only five seniors last year, it marked the second-highest senior class that the volleyball team had in Gintert’s tenure. As far as she was concerned, graduating five seniors from a small program such as Windham made a huge difference.
“It is a huge difference,” Gintert said. “There are a lot of schools around that make cuts for their teams coming out so losing five seniors is quite a blow and it is very hard to recover but so far it is going pretty well.”
In addition to Giugni, senior setter Quinn Justham is the only other senior on the team but has helped serve as the team’s backbone, having recently joined the 1,000 assist club earlier this year. She is also on the verge of reaching the 1,000 dig milestone as well.
With a small senior class, Gintert said that this season is not only about staying competitive but also ushering in some of the younger talent, including the four freshmen on the roster such as right-side hitter Kierrah Sanders and setter Lillian Pesa-Garrett.
“Kierrah has been a starting freshman since day one and is essentially training to take over for Quinn next year; she has really come a long way,” said Gintert. “She was very good for being a freshman but has been pushing herself to be better. Lily started off competing for the outside hitting position but on Thursday night, she did a wonderful job. I think she is very capable of being a dominant hitter in the future.”
The Bombers fell to 4-4 (4-4) on the season when they were defeated by NAC Stripes Division rival Chalker 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 5-15 in a home match on Monday night.
Following a NAC crossover match against rival Maplewood on Tuesday evening and a NAC crossover road match against Matthews on Thursday night, the Bombers will return home for another crossover NAC match against Pymatuning Valley on Sep. 17 beginning at 7 p.m.
