BEACON FALLS — Without much of the experience that helped the Woodland girls volleyball team reach the Naugatuck Valley League semifinals last year, the young Hawks hope that their solid teamwork leads to quick improvement.
Woodland is loaded with junior talent, including front-row power Steph Krebbs, who is one of the few players who returns with varsity experience from last year. She will lean on those matches as she tries to lead the squad this fall.
“We have a lot of juniors this year, and a lot of us are coming in from JV,” said Krebbs, a co-captain. “I expect that a lot of us will push up to the varsity level and be ready. You learn leadership skills at the varsity. Just being on the varsity floor during practice, it’s a lot more intense.”
Julia Swiatek, the team’s only returning senior and one of three captains, also expects the class beneath her to form the core of this season’s team. Although they’re inexperienced, Swiatek sees a number of strengths around her.
“A lot of juniors have to rise up to the occasion,” Swiatek said. “We all have to come together. Our strength is that we’re really close as a team, we communicate well and we’re very aggressive.”
Jim Amato, Woodland’s longtime coach who led the Hawks to the 2013 Class M state title, thinks the program’s past success is in itself a tool for the current team to use in its improvement.
“We’re a young team, so we’re going to need a little varsity experience to see what it looks like,” Amato said. “They’ve had great varsity teams before them, so they know what to expect out of themselves. We have to get a little better on defense. We’re very good at getting things done with the ball, but we have to make sure we’re doing it on purpose every time.”
Amato expects Krebbs, who showed plenty of potential as a sophomore in the front row last fall, to be the go-to player on the floor early in the season. But he knows how important it will be for other players around her to develop quickly.
“You can have one player with all the experience in the world, but if you can’t get the ball to her, she’s just a girl with experience,” Amato said. “We have some girls who can get the ball off the floor and get it to her.”
Fatima Khalid, a junior co-captain who is the fourth and final Khalid sister to go through Amato’s volleyball program at Woodland, takes special pride in finally getting her chance to be an impact player for the Hawks.
“At first it felt like a lot of pressure, just knowing all the expectations we have,” Khalid said. “But ever since I was 4 years old, I’ve been around this program. All the practice has paid off for me.”
Woodland will open the season Sept. 8 at home against Torrington, the defending NVL champion and Class M runner-up.
“We have to win our first match to get us set to win our last match,” Amato said, “which will hopefully be Nov. 18 (in the state finals).”
