Tag Archives: 2024

Rosie Della Ventura

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Growing up, Rosie’s love for sports was perpetual. Instead of playing with dolls, she would beg her brother to play baseball with him and his friends. The love of sports has remained with Rosie to this day, as she is active in golf and officiating girls high school volleyball.

Organized volleyball was introduced at the early age of twelve; the year was 1964. While attending Irving A. Robbins Junior High School in Farmington, Connecticut, Rosie participated in all after school activities including volleyball intramurals. A pioneer in female athletics, she played on the Farmington High School varsity volleyball team coached by Jean Hunt, a future Connecticut Women’s Volleyball Hall of Fame inaugural member Class of 1998. The Indians

(the mascot was changed to River Hawks in later years) captured the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State Championships from 1966 – 1970. This accomplishment is remarkable since Title IX would not be signed into law until June 23, 1972.

Rosie began officiating volleyball her senior year in high school. This led her to officiate both high school and collegiate level volleyball matches. Upon graduation from Farmington High, she attended Central Connecticut State College, currently Central Connecticut State University. Persevering through barriers that female athletes faced at that time, Rosie would play volleyball for 4 years coached by Brenda Reilly, a future Connecticut Women’s Volleyball Hall of Fame member Class of 2001. While pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education, Rosie’s love for the sport continued after graduation when she coached Westfield State College, Westfield, Massachusetts in 1974.

In the 1980’s, Rosie decided to change career paths from academia to manufacturing, where she became a Trainer at an electronic manufacturing company producing printed circuit boards. She continued working in manufacturing at various supervisory positions. Even in the manufacturing world, her passion for volleyball remained, participating in competitive co-ed leagues held at the Waterbury and Naugatuck YMCA’s over the years.

Retirement in 2014, did not slow Rosie down as she continued to officiate high school girls’ volleyball and ventured out to officiate weekend United States Volleyball Association USVBA tournaments. As a current member of the Connecticut Board of Volleyball Officials, Rosie is focused primarily on officiating high school girls’ volleyball matches throughout Connecticut. As an active member of her church’s Vestry, as well as an accomplished golfer, she continues to remain active today.

Rosie shares, “My participation playing competitive sports in high school and college was enhanced by having been coached by excellent and talented women. They were not only exceptional coaches, but also legends in their time. Jean Hunt and Brenda Reilly who are no longer with us today physically, paved the way for young women to excel in sports. I contribute on receiving this great honor to both Jean and Brenda for all the coaching and mentoring in the sports I truly loved, volleyball being one of them. It is an honor to join these two former Connecticut Women’s Volleyball Hall of Famers”.

Karen Anderson

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Growing up in Hopewell Junction, New York, Karen attended John Jay High School where she played JV and Varsity volleyball. Her interest in officiating volleyball began in 1980 while attending Southern Connecticut State University. She started officiating high school and collegiate matches in Connecticut and area states. Karen found herself officiating while her older sister, Lin, was playing some of those college matches. After moving to Indiana, Karen spent eight years officiating high school and collegiate volleyball throughout the Hoosier State.

She returned to Connecticut in 1984 where she reestablished herself in the state and began training new officials. Karen spent 15+ summers at the Woodbridge Sports Center training and working with new officials as they officiated the summer high school girls league.

Over the years Karen has officiated many tournaments and jamborees including the Special Olympics and Connecticut All Stars. Karen was selected to officiate the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State Volleyball tournament finals for both the girls’ and boys’ tournaments.

Karen served as an elected member of the Connecticut Board of Volleyball Officials for over twenty years, 2004-2023. She had served as vice-president of the Southern Connecticut Board of Officials for several years and recently finished serving as the vice-president of the boys Volleyball Board of Officials.

A true student of the game, Karen always found it rewarding to be part of the discussion of rules, procedures, and play. “A good official never stops watching, learning and adjusting” Karen states. Over the years, Karen has had the opportunity to watch players mature and grow as they played the sport. This has been one of the motivating factors in the longevity of her officiating career.

Marianna Linnehan

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Marianna began her volleyball career when she was only 9 years old at her Greek church in Stamford, Connecticut. Her passion for the sport would only grow over the years until she attended Stamford High School. Over the next 4 years, under the coaching of Mike Smeriglio, Marianna would hone her talents as an outside hitter.

During Marianna’s senior year, the Black Knights would find themselves competing in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State Championship finals. The finals would mark the first time going this deep in the CIAC tournament for both Marianna and Coach Smeriglio. She was selected team captain her senior year and named to the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) Second team.

This Connecticut homegrown talent would find herself at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York for one season in 2002-2003, prior to transferring to Eastern Connecticut State University in 2004. At ECSU, Marianna would change positions from outside hitter to libero. This change of positions, proved to be historic for the Warriors. She would accumulate over 40 digs in 3 separate matches going on to break the school dig record of 1900 in just 3 seasons. This record stands today! Upon graduation, she ranked statistically among the highest in Aces as well.

During her career, Marianna was twice named Little East Conference (LEC) Defensive Player of the Year, 1st Team All-LEC and LEC Tournament MVP and was also selected to the NUVA Senior Classic. She remains the only 2-time recipient of the LEC Tournament MVP and Defensive Player of the year in school history. The Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors won back to back LEC regular season titles and went on to compete in 3 straight LEC championships. Marianna was inducted into the Eastern Connecticut State University Hall of Fame in 2021.

Jeff Dyreson

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Jeff was introduced to the game formally as a freshman in high school, where the basketball coach said to prepare for the upcoming basketball season, you should do volleyball in the Fall to get “in shape”. Turns out Jeff was a better volleyball player than basketball player and pursued a collegiate volleyball career instead of basketball.  He was an all-conference player his senior year of high school as an outside hitter and setter.

He joined the University of Wisconsin men’s volleyball club his freshman year and officially moved into the setter position. He was an All-Big Ten selection his senior year while the team was very competitive nationally.

During his senior year of college Jeff got his first taste of coaching. He returned to his alma mater (Madison West High School, Madison WI) and coached the boys freshman team. His competitive spirit started to shift away from a competitive playing career to coaching. He continued to play competitively over the next 2 decades playing in adult leagues and tournaments while also dabbling in coaching boys at the club level in Wisconsin.

After graduate school, Jeff moved to Connecticut in the fall of 1998. He again, started to play in adult leagues and tournaments and in 2001 he was offered the assistant girls varsity coach at The Loomis Chaffee School.  9/11/01 was his first day of coaching girls and the rest is history. He became the head varsity coach in 2004 and has remained in that role for the past 20 years. Jeff has transformed the program to become amongst the elite in New England Prep School volleyball. The team earned its first Founder’s League title in 2006 and its first New England title in 2018. During the 20 years, Loomis has won 9 Founders League titles, 4 New England Tournament Finalists, and 2 New England Championships which included an undefeated season in 2023.

Jeff has had dozens of players move on and play collegiately and he is most proud of the relationship he has with his players. Jeff is married and has 2 sons but the volleyball girls are the daughters he never had and considers them all family forever.

Laura Arena

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Volleyball has been a part of Laura’s life since her high school days in Bedford,

New York. She went on to play collegiately at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Knowing when she started her career in education, that a career in coaching volleyball would be a big part of it. For the past 32 years our volleyball community has been fortunate to participate in Laura’s amazing journey here in Connecticut with 28 of those years at Farmington High School.

Laura’s career record is 519-172 (469-153 at Farmington High School). Highlights at Farmington High School include 2 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State Championships (2014 & 2023) and runner up 3 times (2009, 2013 & 2016), 11 Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) titles, 2 International Volleyball Hall of Fame, Annual Girls VolleyHall Elite High School Tournament Championships held in Springfield, Massachusetts and a John Jay Invitational Championship in Cross River, New York.

Accolades recently awarded to Coach Arena include being chosen as the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2020 and a finalist for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA) Coach of the Year in 2020 earning a fabulous experience in Nebraska. As a valued member of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference committee since 2013, Laura also has been the Chairperson for the CCC since 2012. Running a youth summer volleyball camp for the past 15 years, as well as coaching in the Husky Volleyball Club program are additional contributions made by Coach Arena.

Laura is most proud of the role she has played in growing stronger, healthier female student-athletes for the past 32 years, focusing on the larger picture beyond high school athletics. Each season she looks forward to building a rapport with her team and challenging them to achieve their goals. Laura has continued to inspire her student athletes over an impressive 3 decades.

High school coaches Mike Galu, Stu Wahl and Steve Powis are credited for profoundly impacting Laura’s career. The thought of playing soccer in college was removed through the wisdom and excitement that they shared with her about the “greatest team sport there is – I fell in love with volleyball” Laura shares.

Laura and her daughter Abby will be running the Tokyo Marathon in March which will complete the sixth star for the six World Major Marathons. They have already completed New York, Boston, Chicago, London, and Berlin. Laura remarks that, “It has been the most treasured, challenging, and wonderful experience and to share it with my daughter is the best!”.

Jeana T. Roche

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Jeana’s love for volleyball started in 1991 at Darien High School. A freshman with no volleyball experience, she was invited by her good friend, Kim Henry, to give it a try. Jeana and Kim had played tennis together for years and Kim was then a senior outside hitter for the team. Kim suspected Jeana’s tennis serve would translate well into volleyball spikes and serves. Sure enough, it did!

Fast forward two years, and Jeana led Connecticut in service aces in both her junior and senior years. Jeana would often take over matches by rattling off ace after ace. In1994, during the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State and Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) finals, Jeana closed out the matches with 5 and 9 aces respectively, clinching both titles.

Coached by legend Laurie LaRusso, a future Connecticut Women’s Volleyball Hall of Fame member, Class of 2012 and multiple time Coach of the Year, Darien would end their 1993 season “perfectly”. The team went 25-0, never losing a set, and won both the CIAC State Championship and FCIAC Championships. Jeana earned All-State and All-FCIAC recognition and was named a CT Post All-Star. The taste of winning the championship in 1993 spurred Jean to do it all over again.

The following year was a repeat! In 1994 the team went 24-0, never dropping a set and again won both the CIAC State and FCIAC titles. For the second year in a row, Jeana earned All-State and All-FCIAC recognition, was also named a Mizuno All Star and was selected for the Nutmeg State Games South team, which went on to win the gold medal. Jeana was named the co-MVP of the Darien volleyball team in 1994 alongside her good friend and amazing setter Chaira Ghiardini.

A dynamic duo for sure.

In 1995, Jeana was named Captain of the Darien Tennis team and went on to be selected to the All-FCIAC East team, as Darien won the CIAC Class M State title. In addition, Jeana was named the 1995 Darien Veterans of Foreign War Female Athlete of the Year.

She earned a full scholarship to play volleyball at Fordham University and played 4 years for the Rams. While at Fordham, she was also recruited to play on the tennis team but declined because of her commitment to volleyball. Her college and high school teammates remain some of her closest friends to this day.

Fast forward to 2017 when Jeana was living back in Darien with her husband, Kevin, and three young children Jillian, Kevin and Joe, the recruiting started.

Former coach Laurie LaRusso reached out and the call was heard. Jeana managed to work into to her busy schedule the demands of coaching high school volleyball. She became Laurie’s assistant coach for the next 3 seasons, reliving so many of the memories from decades before.

A few short years later, in 2022, Jeana’s daughter Jillian was selected Senior Captain for the Darien High School volleyball team and what did they do? Twenty-nine years after first completing the task with Jeana, Laurie coached

Jillian’s team to another “perfect” season. The team again went 25-0, winning both the CIAC State Championship and FCIAC Championship. A surreal experience for all.

Tiffany Gancarz

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Tiffany began playing volleyball in middle school for Dodd Jr. High School in Cheshire, Connecticut. Playing both 7th and 8th grade, this natural leader was selected captain in 8th grade. Over the next 4 years, Cheshire High School under the coaching of Sue Bavone, a future Connecticut Women’s Volleyball Hall of Fame member Class of 2021, the Rams would benefit from Tiffany’s talents. “These years are where my love of the sport really grew and are still considered some of the best years of my life” notes Tiffany.

As a first-year student, Tiffany played on Junior Varsity in the setter position, and had some playing time on varsity as a defensive specialist. In 1996, the Rams would capture the Southern Connecticut Conference Championship. During her sophomore year, she played on varsity rotating between the setter and defensive specialist positions. The team won the tough SCC Housatonic Division Championship, as well as the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Class L State Championship.

In 1998 as a junior, Tiffany was selected Captain of the team and garnered the setter position. The Rams found a great fit, as the team would win both the SCC Championship and the CIAC Class L State Championship. She was once again named Captain of the team her senior year. The team would win the SCC Championship, and finish runner-up in the CIAC Class L State Tournament. Tiffany received accolades at the end of her senior campaign including,

New Haven Register All Area Team, First Team All-State selection, All- Housatonic Division, Scholar Athlete Award, Sports Page Player of the Month, Waterbury Republican Player of the Week, and was a participant in the Senior All-State Game. She completed her volleyball career at Cheshire High School with a remarkable record of 93-6.

Currently living in North Andover, Massachusetts Tiffany is a kindergarten special education teacher and is married to Chris Ross. They have two children, Carter (9) and Avery (7). “Over the years I have had many inspirations which have led me to where I am today. Both of my parents’ drive, energy, determination, and positive attitudes have helped me to become a successful educator. In addition, my two older sisters (April and Jackie) influenced much of my life by leading me as role models. They both were the reason I began playing volleyball and are the reason that I moved to Massachusetts where I now have a family. Coach Sue Bavone influenced me by always teaching me, encouraging me to excel, and providing me with a positive and happy environment during my volleyball career so that I built a strong foundation of teamwork. My husband and children inspire me every day to live a happy and healthy life”, Tiffany reflects.