East Hampton Girls' Volleyball Making Its Point

The guiding maxim for the East Hampton girls’ volleyball team this season has been one point at a time, one game at a time.

After a difficult loss on Monday at undefeated Morgan, that next point and game came Wednesday evening at home against winless Hyde Leadership.

A struggling Hyde might seem like the perfect opponent for a team trying to get back to its winning ways, but East Hampton coach John Post didn’t necessarily see it that way.

“They’re tough games to focus all the way through,” Post said. “I kind of wish we played a Morgan every day.”

Still, the Bellringers seemed to have no trouble focusing en rout to a 25-11, 25-8, 25-13 sweep of the Howling Wolves. Hyde (0-12) has yet to win a set this season.

“Coming back with a win after a tough loss like that, it’s always going to be good,” Post said. “And it was a tough loss.”

To say the least.

Against Morgan, East Hampton was up in the fourth game with a chance to win, but the Huskies rallied to pull the match out in five sets, 25-8, 24-26, 15-25, 25-20, 15-9. It was the first time Morgan had been taken to five sets in the regular season since 2007.

However, just like Post would rather see his team challenged by elite competition such as Morgan every day, he doesn’t want his players to be satisfied with being close. It’s a mind-set the first-year East Hampton coach has tried to instill since the start of the season.

“One of the things we talked about all season long is we can’t be happy with being good,” he said. “We have to want to be great and work toward that. One of the things we talked about on Monday after the loss is that they don’t hand out trophies for regular season wins. Our goals are to win a conference championship and to compete for that state championship and we’re getting there. I don’t believe in moral victories or anything like that, but I think we’re getting to that level to where we need to be right now.”

At 10-2, the Bellringers have qualified for the Class S tournament and are in good position to qualify for the Shoreline Conference tournament. They qualified for both last season with a 15-3 record, when their season unraveled. The Bellringers lost both postseason games they played, including a three-set loss to Coginchaug in the Class S tourney, a team East Hampton defeated twice during the season.

“One of the things we’ve dealt with this year is last year is over with,” said Post, who also is the boys’ volleyball coach at Xavier. “I don’t ask the girls questions about last year. We don’t talk about last year. We’re working on taking this one point at a time, one game at a time, and I think that is what is going to prepare us for the playoffs. The only game that matters is the next one. That’s the mind-set that we’re in right now and that’s what we’re trying to build off of going forward and I think that will help us in postseason play.”

For now, there is a regular season to finish and postseason seeding to play for. With six games remaining, this is no time for a let down. The good news is the Bellringers have two seniors providing the kind of leadership that Post points to as the key to the team's success so far.

“My senior leadership is fantastic,” he said. “With my libero, Ashley Chasse, and my setter, Marissa Morassini, I couldn’t ask for better leadership between the two. Ashley wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s the ultimate competitor and the girls feed off of that. With Marissa, she’s just so stoic. She’s kind of like the silent assassin out there. She just picks apart other teams and leads by example. I think that has a lot to do with our success this year. The girls feed off the two of them … and we have some youth that are making plays now.

“I’m happy where we’re at right now and we’re going to keep building from there.”

One point at a time, one game at a time.

Girls’ Volleyball Schedule/Results

Sept. 13: Morgan, 0-3

Sept. 15: at Coginchaug, 3-0

Sept. 19: at Hyde Leadership, 3-0

Sept. 21: Cromwell, 3-0

Sept. 22: at North Branford, 3-0

Sept. 26: at Haddam-Killingworth, 3-1

Sept. 28: Old Lyme, 3-0

Sept. 30: Valley Regional, 3-0

Oct. 3: Hale-Ray, 3-0

Oct. 8: Coginchaug, 3-0

Oct. 10: at Morgan, 2-3

Oct. 12: Hyde Leadership, 3-0

Oct. 14: at Cromwell, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 17: North Branford, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 19: Haddam-Killingworth, 5:30 p.m., Senior Night

Oct. 21: at Old Lyme, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 26: at Valley Regional, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 28: at Hale-Ray, 5:30 p.m.