South girls volleyball rebuilding
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

It's been a rough season so far for the Williamsville South girls volleyball team.

The Lady Billies are 3-8 overall and 3-6 in ECIC Division II.

"We've definitely had a rough start," said coach Gina Becker. "We lost six seniors from last year's team so I knew it would be a rebuilding year. We started as a group of individuals; many haven't played varsity before. They have learned to play at the varsity level as individuals and with each other on the court."

There are seven new players on the roster.

South's wins have come over Hamburg twice, 25-8, 25-23, 22-25, 28-26; 25-21, 25-13, 25-17; and a come-from-behind five-game win over Williamsville East, 20-25, 20-25, 25-7, 25-13, 25-23.

"We were excited to pull the East match out," said Becker. "After losing the first two games, the girls looked at each other and put everything they had into winning it."

Players who have performed well on the court are junior and senior outside hitter Kelsey Hooper and Hannah Kwarta, sophomore setter Jilene VanOpdorp and senior middle hitter Grace Dadebo, who leads the team in kills and blocks.

"Anytime we get a good pass we try to set it to our middle hitters (Dadebo, Claire Gerlach and Ali Gramza) and Grace has stood out," said Becker. "She's a good athlete and hits the ball even if it is not in the right spot. She also jumps through the roof."

Kwarta, Dadebo and Licata are team captains.

Junior libero Nikki Parlato leads in digs.

South played at West Seneca East on Tuesday, but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com