Woodland volleyball rolls over Naugy

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Woodland senior setter Jess Patrizi put on a display of her skills on Tuesday night, and Naugatuck had a front row view.

Patrizi served with confidence, set with a purpose, hit with accuracy and led the Hawks to a 3-0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-13) home victory over Naugy. Woodland improved to 3-0 as the Greyhounds fell to 2-1.

In the end, Patrizi posted 15 assists, 10 aces and three kills. Her stats belied the influence she had on the match.

“It’s not what she can do, it’s what she can’t do, and that list is very short,” said Woodland Coach Jim Amato. “She can do a little bit of everything: she’ll pass, hit, jump serve, and she’s incredibly intelligent with her decisions of the floor.”

Naugatuck led 6-4 in the first set thanks to a kill from Courtney Quarles. Moments later, Patrizi took the ball with the score tied at 10 and recorded 15 straight points to close out the set.

“I try to place the ball,” Patrizi said. “I think of a spot and I find a person or I find an area on the court and I try to serve it there.”

The second set started the same as the first—with a score tied at 10. This time, Patrizi showcased other aspects of her game: hitting and setting.

During a 10-1 run, Patrizi set up Heather Framski (seven kills, four aces and two digs) on back-to-back points, and dished out an assist to Tayler Boncal. Patrizi added her own kill during the rally.

“She utilizes front row, back row, all of her hitters,” Naugatuck head coach Fred Scheithe said of Patrizi. “She’s like [New Orleans Saints quarterback] Drew Brees, who spreads all his passes around and keeps his receivers happy. She does that with her hitters.”

Amato agreed.

“The best part about Jess is that it’s not just about her, it’s about everyone around her,” he said. “She moves that ball to everybody.”

Naugatuck fell behind early in set three and could not recover.  Woodland scored the first six points and led 12-1 with kills coming from Lindsay Boland and Adriana Ambari.

The Greyhounds were led in the match by Daniella Stoehrer (10 service points), Jess Buckley (6 points) and Mikki D’Angelo (5 points).  Leticia Campos had five kills for the Greyhounds, who were scheduled to face Ansonia on Wednesday.

“It was a disappointing performance tonight,” Scheithe said.  “Woodland is a very good team. They showed me some of the weaknesses we have to work on.”

The match gave the Greyhounds something the team is lacking—experience. Scheithe said that this loss will make a difference for the better.

“Confidence is lacking in them the most, and that’s from not playing last year,” Scheithe said. “Being in this element as a varsity team is the one skill we have to work on the most and I think the physical part will come along with it.”

The Hawks aim to remain unbeaten with road matches scheduled for later in the week at Holy Cross and Watertown.