PEABODY — It’s a rebuilding year for the Peabody volleyball team.
The Tanners have a real challenge on their hands to match or exceed the accomplishments of last year’s team, which finished the regular season 14-6 and won the Northeastern Conference Large title.
The No. 6 seed in the Division 1 North tournament, the Tanners unfortunately were bounced in the first round by No. 11 Lowell, 3-0. Their tournament appearance was the Tanners’ 13th straight, dating back to 2006.
“We are absolutely starting from scratch, but we have a lot of girls who were freshmen and sophomores who really got to see some great volleyball when they were on JV,” said coach Lisa Keene. “But with with hard work, I believe we can move our way up. I’m already seeing some solid skills, I just need to see them put it all together.”
The Tanners took a huge hit from graduation, losing nine seniors, one of them being NEC Player of the Year, libero Tatiana Correia. Correia finished the season with a team-best 42 aces and 181 points on serve as well as a team-best 380 digs and 513 serves received.
While Correia was handling the defense, setter Rachel Coleman, a NEC All-League honoree, was directing the offense. She led the team in assists (398), was second on the team in digs (110).
The Tanners also lost their top hitter in NEC All-Star Alexa Flewelling, who led the team in kills (157).
Senior outside hitters Olivia Kiricoples and Amanda Marmiani will serve as captains this year. Last year, Kiricoples was third on the team in kills (69) while Marmiani was third in serves received (55) with only 15 errors.
“Both are really fun girls and are so positive with teammates,” said Keene. “Amanda has a knee injury, but I think both captains will get their court time. They are both very coachable and teachable.”
Both captains are confident that the team can pull it together.
“It’s going to still be a good season and I think as long as we up the effort we will be okay,” said Marmiani. “We just need to work really hard, but have to find a setter, that’s our biggest need. We had more than 70 kids come out, so we have a lot to choose from and a lot to build on with so many kids.”
“We have a lot of younger girls, so we need to build up their confidence, but if we can do that and work hard, we will be successful,” said Kiricoples. “We lost a lot of firepower and we have some positions missing with people we don’t even know if we can fill, especially setter, but I think our non-conference schedule will be great exposure to teams with great skills, so if we can work on defending their strong hitting and kills, we can put that toward having success against our league opponents.”
Keene said several players are in the mix for play time including juniors Maria Chouinard (outside hitter), outside/middle hitter Maggie Brennan, defensive specialist Sophia Hollingshed, middle hitter Aaliyah Alleyne and outside hitter Samantha Silva.
Sophomore Sarah Broughton and freshmen Allison Flewelling and Isabel Bettencourt round out the squad.
“Aaliyah and Maggie Brennan are strong hitters and played up on varsity a few times last season and Maria and Sophia will contribute as outside hitters,” said Keene. “Sarah Broughton will be a sophomore outside hitter. And we have two freshmen who can play any position on the court with Allison and Isabel.”
Peabody opens the season next Friday at home with a conference match against Swampscott. Keene has loaded her schedule with four non-league matches, three against Cape Ann League teams. The Tanners are set to play CAL opponent Masconomet on Sept. 9 at home. On Sept. 23, the Tanners travel to North Reading for another CAL clash. On Oct. 18, Peabody’s set to take on the “other” Tanners when Middlesex League opponent Woburn comes to town. Peabody will wrap up the regular season at home against CAL powerhouse Hamilton-Wenham on Oct. 30.
“I’m a little nervous because you make these decisions to schedule difficult teams and I like to be tested, but it makes you think what if that causes us to not make the tournament,” Keene said. “Right now with the level of experience we have, all I really know is I will probably be using more bench players in different situations than in past years.
“Our service looks great, defense looks great, but we just have no one killing the ball. We don’t have a formidable hitter right now, that’s our biggest challenge.”
