Woodland pulls out tight wins with relaxed approach
BEACON FALLS — Late in the Woodland’s five-set match on Tuesday, Cam Caswell attempted her first jump serve of the evening. Usually, that would be a risky move in a tight match.
That’s not the case with this year’s Hawks squad. The team has had a penchant for playing close matches — and winning — due in large part to their relaxed and composed approach.
The Hawks (13-2) won their eighth straight match overall and fourth five-set match of the season in a victory over Ansonia on Tuesday. The scores of the match were 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 25-16 and 15-11.
The Hawks overcame a big night from Ansonia’s Shayllah Dobson, who blasted 20 kills. Jim Amato, Woodland’s head coach, said his team refuses to fold or break down.
“They don’t get frazzled,” Amato said. “This team plays so loose.”
The Hawks kept calm, carried on and came back from a 2-1 game deficit. Abbey Rosato had 12 kills and three blocks for Woodland.
“Abbey has been playing really heads up and smart, and does a great job of changing up space that she uses,” Amato said.
In addition to Woodland’s ability to play through rough patches, the Hawks also spread the wealth on offense with many dangerous scoring threats. Carla Piccolo had 36 assists for the Hawks.
“Carla does a great job of distributing and gets different hitters involved,” Amato said.
Anna Khalid had 10 kills and two blocks, while Sarah Reilly had four kills and two aces.
The match against Ansonia had a similar look to Woodland’s 3-2 win over Holy Cross on Sept. 30. Sam White had 20 kills, 23 digs and three aces for the Hawks against the Crusaders.
“The Holy Cross match was Sam’s coming out party,” Amato said. “She had a great match.”
White had 14 kills and seven aces on Tuesday night against Ansonia.
Amato said the Hawks need to do a better job of limiting unforced errors.
“Inconsistency can be contagious,” Amato said. “Once we minimize errors and get back to basics, it starts with one good point and leads to one good set.”
The Hawks will have to be sharp in the coming week. Woodland will face Seymour (15-1) on Thursday and host Torrington (12-3) on Friday. Next week, the Hawks host Naugy (11-5) on Monday at 6 p.m.
