New Hyde Park volleyball finishes regular season undefeated, despite unusual lineup approach

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New Hyde Park volleyball finishes regular season undefeated, despite unusual lineup approach
Photos courtesy of New Hyde Park H.S.

Usually in sports, when a coach moves one successful player to a new position, there’s an adjustment period for both that player and the one taking her old spot.

But for the New Hyde Park girls volleyball team this season, it wasn’t just two athletes who had to adjust; it was the whole squad.

When head coach Jackie Rizzuti decided to move senior Sarah Mathew to hitter this season, from libero, she made a bold and unusual choice: This year’s Gladiators would have no libero. It would be a team effort, with every player taking a turn.

A libero in volleyball is a crucial role; liberos are defensive specialists, usually, stay in the game the entire time, and are generally responsible for making the first pass off a dig to begin the offensive attack. They must be quick with super reflexes, be calm under pressure, and know how to make the right decisions quickly.

It was the first time Rizzuti, in her 15th year, had constructed this type of lineup, but it paid big-time dividends: New Hyde Park just completed a perfect regular season, going 13-0 to win Conference IV.

“First time I’ve ever had a team like this (with no libero), and everyone now has to play every position,” Rizzuti said during practice last week. “But this team has so many experienced players on it, and such good chemistry, I knew they could handle it.”
“It’s been a little bit of a struggle at first because she (Sarah) was always the one who takes control of the backcourt,” said senior Nicole DiMartino. “But once we started playing a few games and got our communication straight, we didn’t have a problem and it’s been great.”

After its perfect regular season, New Hyde Park advanced to play powerful South Side on Oct. 28 in the first round of the playoffs.

South Side, the No. 1 seed, defeated the Gladiators, handing them their first loss of the year and ending their season.

Still, it was a wonderful year for New Hyde Park’s veteran squad.
There are several reasons the Gladiators have had their best season in decades, but it starts with the six seniors, led by the trio of captains: Mathew, DiMartino and Tina Torre.
DiMartino is one of the most lethal outside hitters around, with 121 kills this season. The outside hitter is “the screamer and yeller” out there, she admitted, rallying her teammates while leading with her actions.
“She can adjust to any set and hit the ball hard from any position,” Rizzuti said.
Mathew made the adjustment to hitter seamlessly, and has become a strong offensive weapon. Torre has also been a steadying influence with her strong frontline play, while fellow senior Kristen Schneider is a service ace, with 57 aces this season.
Torre said the key to the undefeated season was the NHP team dynamic totally changing” from last year’s squad that fell in the first round of the playoffs.
“We’ve just grown together a lot more, and our playing and communication has gotten better,” Torre said.  “We can give each other constructive criticism and really make the team better.”
DiMartino and Mathew both say the team chemistry has been the key to success this year, with Rizzuti saying this year’s squad “comes to practice ready to work hard every day. They’d stay until 9 p.m. every night if I asked them to.”
“There has been no drama at all this year, with anyone,” DiMartino said with a laugh. “Everyone is super friendly on and off the court.”
Rizzuti has also seen the growth of the four underclassmen in the team’s rotation, as she knows replacing six seniors won’t be easy. But going undefeated, and attracting the attention of the other teams at the school (“It seems like we’ve gotten a lot more people at our games this year, which is fun,” Torre said) has made the path so rewarding.
“I saw the potential in this group from the start, coming off our success last year,” Mathew said. “To be able to have this kind of season with this group, that knows each other so well, has been so great.”

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