The Villa Angela-St. Joseph volleyball team could not have gotten off to a better start in 2015.
The Vikings will need that momentum to carry over into a headline match vs. visiting Gilmour on Sept. 2 at Viking Village.
VASJ has won its first four matches of the season defeating Chardon, 3-2, Lutheran West (3-0), Riverside (2-1) and Aurora (2-0). The undefeated Vikings have gotten contributions from several players including Emily Mastalski, Kiarra Franks and freshmen Kathleen McGarry and Rebecca Korosec. Angie Zamora, Nikkia Shadey and Michaela Mitchell all drew praise from Coach Mark Royer for the continued growth and their impact on the hot start to the fall.
“You can see things coming together even after a slow start in the first match against Chardon and as a coach you love to see that,” Royer said. “Our conditioning really helped when that went five games. Our passing and our defense improved vs. Lutheran West. The energy in the morning against Riverside was outstanding. That was the kind of thing I wanted to see. Aurora is such a talented team that it was good to get a win over them as well.”
The match against Gilmour will feature all three levels with the freshman playing at 4:30 followed by the junior varsity and then the varsity.
“I think the coaches on the freshmen and JV are doing a fantastic job getting all the girls ready to play and ready to succeed,” Royer said. “Hopefully we will have success at all levels against Gilmour, but we know what kind of challenge it will be and we respect their program.”