LYNN — It was only Liz D’Amico’s second season in charge of Lynn English’s boys volleyball program, but history was served up as the Bulldogs secured their first-ever postseason berth.
D’Amico praised her team’s hard work, as well as the bond between the school’s boys and girls teams.
“I feel like it’s validation for all of the work that they’ve put in throughout the season,” she said. “I think a lot of our success, this season, was due to our boys going out and supporting the girls team, and now the girls came out to support the boys.”
Some differences between last year’s team and this year’s 11-10 squad were skill level of the players and, perhaps more importantly, their dedication on and off the court.
“They really put in a lot of work in practice. Our practices were very much designed around the previous set of games. Whenever we would recognize something that we really needed to work on, we really focused on that,” D’Amico said. “I think something that we haven’t done before was keeping stats and we really looked at tape from other teams to really try to improve every day. I felt like, last year, we were playing catch up, so we could never get ahead of anything.”
With more familiarity and consistency, the team improved throughout the spring.
You could say that during every season, there is one game — one moment, even — when a coach sees something special. This year, that came against Everett, one of the Greater Boston League’s more consistent and well-rounded teams.
“It was the first time our boys have ever beaten Everett,” D’Amico said.
Then, on Senior Night, history was made.
English defeated Salem, 3-0, to punch its ticket to the postseason, a feeling D’Amico said she had never experienced before.
“It was the first time, as a coach, that I have ever felt anything like that. It was a sense of pride,” she said. “So many of these players were there from the very beginning. It was very personal for me, seeing the journey for some of these boys.”
Behind every great coach are great players. D’Amico praised her senior leaders, in addition to several underclassmen who will return next spring.
“Solomon Srey and Axel Phat are two captains who really stood out this year and were great leaders,” D’Amico said. “Miguel Najarro was just a standout player. He’s going to play in the future and already has colleges looking at him. I’m glad I get to have him back for one more season.
“Andy Neang started late last year and is a sophomore. He was definitely one of our best players; he stayed in the entire game and very rarely came out,” D’Amico said. “He’s so passionate about the game that he just put his heart and soul into it every time he stepped onto the court. He had this positive attitude when he was on the floor and I’m just fortunate to have him for two more years.”
The Bulldogs graduated six seniors. Srey and Najarro were named GBL All-Stars.
