SARATOGA SPRINGS – Emily Vetere became the Duanesburg girls’ volleyball coach over the summer. On Saturday, she led the Eagles to the program’s first sectional title.
Playing in its first-ever final, Duanesburg grinded out a 25-19, 25-13, 22-25, 25-22 victory over top-seeded Lake George in the Section 2 Class D title match at Saratoga Springs High School.
Advertisement
“I’m at a loss for words,” Vetere said. “I’m so proud of all of these girls. All the hard work that they’ve put in, everything they’ve done for the team. We’ve had a lot of new rotations and a lot of doing different positions because of injuries and sicknesses, and they’ve persevered.”
Vetere is a 2018 Greenville graduate – “even when I was playing, I didn’t get any farther than semifinals,” she said – who coached briefly at her alma mater and at Catskill.
She got a job at Duanesburg as a teaching assistant but had no intention of staying with volleyball as she took classes at UAlbany.
“I was working there, and they needed a coach,” Vetere said. “I wasn’t going to coach because I was doing college, and then they needed one. And I said, ‘Alright, let’s do it.'”
Advertisement
A band of five seniors mixed with some talented underclassmen didn’t dominate Lake George, looking for its first sectional title since 2023, but the Eagles controlled play.
“They have so much grit,” Vetere said. “We’ve struggled a lot with getting in our heads and getting down, and the power and the leadership that they’ve all shown has been inspiring.”
The Lakers’ roster has only two seniors and includes a couple of eighth-graders on the bench.
“We’re not experienced in this type of pressure,” Lake George coach Brittany Rodrigues said. “Hopefully it’s a learning experience. Just to be here for them is important. They were very happy to be here, and the future’s only bright for us.”
Advertisement
Key moment
After the Lakers snared the third set and were tied at 15 in the fourth, Duanesburg went on a 7-2 run, sparked by sophomore Kelly Rosenzweig, who had an ace and a brilliant dig that produced a point. Lake George contributed with four service errors during that stretch.
The Eagles had 19 aces in the match against 15 service errors.
“Serving has been one of our biggest challenges all season,” Vetere said. “The end of last week and this week we’ve harped on serves a lot more than anything else. It started to get away from us in the third set, and then a little bit in the fourth set, and we just needed to regroup and reset.”
Advertisement
Star of the game
Setter Morgan Mix had 17 assists, six service aces and four digs in the Eagles’ four-set victory.
“I’m so proud that as a senior, and for every other senior, we were able to accomplish this in our last year,” said Mix, who completed her sixth year in the program. “It means a lot for future girls in our program to really try and achieve what we did today.”
Numbers to know
22: Sectional titles won by Lake George.
3: Lake George players with 10 or more digs: Sophomore Lina Caldaroni (11), junior Addy Merrigan (10) and senior Chelsea Kubricky (10).
0: Girls’ volleyball sectional finals for Duanesburg before this season.
Advertisement
What’s next
Duanesburg: The Eagles (12-8) advanced to a regional matchup against Section 9 champion SS Seward at 5 p.m. next Saturday at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake for a trip to the state championships the following weekend in Glens Falls.
Lake George: Thanks to Section 2 having an at-large bid, the Lakers (16-5) will play in regionals, facing Section IV winner Candor at 1:30 p.m. next Saturday at Chenango Valley High School.
Subscribe
There’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at Rookie coach Emily Vetere leads Duanesburg girls’ volleyball to first-ever sectional title.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
