Category Archives: High School Player

Alesia Vaccari

Posted on

Alesia

Alesia attended The Gilbert School in Winsted, where her team won the 2000 Class S Championship and were finalists in 2001. She was awarded Most Valuable Player in the 2000 tourney and All-State in 2000 and 2001. She was also named CT Player of the Year by the Hartford Courant in 2001. She then enrolled and graduated from Springfield College where she was setter for four years.

During her time running the office at Springfield, they won two NEWMAC Championships and played in two NCAA Regional Finals. She received many individual honors, including three All-Region honors, two honorable mention All-American honors, and was named NEWMAC Player of the Year in 2004. She continues to hold the all-time assist record at Springfield College with 5,196. Coach Joel Dearing stated upon her graduation that even with all of her accolades she would best be remembered for her “love of the game of volleyball.”

Alesia went on to share that passion as an assistant coach at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY where she was part of the Golden Knights’ 2010 Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year, helping the program in its first-ever  NCAA tournament berth. She then took the head coaching position at Simmons College in Boston, where she posted a 50-49 career record with the Sharks, reaching the Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinals in each of her three seasons. Alesia was named the GNAC Coach of the Year in her first season at Simmons, when she led the program to a 20-10 record. In 2012, she was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Assoc. Thirty Under Thirty Award. In 2014, Alesia was hired as head women’s volleyball coach at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.

 

Allison Baker

Posted on

baker
Allison N. Baker

Allison was born in Connecticut but raised in Dallas, Texas and Ft Wayne, Indiana. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Ft Wayne. She was introduced to volleyball in the third grade and began playing club volleyball in fourth grade. While living in Indiana, she had the opportunity to train with elite club programs such Munciana Volleyball Club and Sports Performance Volleyball Club. Her father relocated to Glastonbury, Connecticut in 1998 where she began her high school volleyball career as a Tomahawk under Coach Steve Geryk. She made an immediate impact as a setter for the varsity team and after a few games was named the starter. During her sophomore season she was named team captain, a role she held her remaining three years. Glastonbury quickly became a volleyball powerhouse across the state securing the number one spot in the state polls for many weeks in 2001. Allison led the Tomahawks to the CCC West Conference title all four years and the CCC Conference title against rival Maloney in an exciting five game match in 2001, where she totaled 32 kills. Glastonbury made it to the state semifinal match before their season ended with an impressive 21-2 record.

During her high school career she was a four year all conference team member, the three time Allstate team member, member of the Hartford Courant all Courant team, named the 2001 East Region All-Star MVP, and the 2001-2002 Gatorade player of the year. She spent the off-season playing for Pat Ryan’s candidate husky volleyball club on their High Performance team. She joined other top players in the state such as Alesia Vaccari securing the 2002 New England region championship Allison was selected to participate in the USA Junior National High Performance training camp held in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2001 and named to the USA New England High Performance team which competed in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002.

After visiting many schools, she committed and signed with the University of Connecticut, before transferring to Providence College after her freshman season. While at Providence, she was a three year starter and named captain her senior year. She was named to numerous all-tournament teams throughout the years and the All-Independent team her senior year. Interestingly, Allison has played every position including club burial at some point during her career.

Allison married her husband Charles, a former member of the Providence College basketball team in 2012 and they are awaiting the arrival of their first baby also due in November. Allison currently works within the juvenile court as a forensic social worker. Her parents and sister were a large part of her success over the years, her father who also played basketball for Providence College passed away in 2010 after a battle with cancer and her mother now resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her sister is a prominent high school basketball coach in North Carolina.

Kaitlin Petrella

Posted on

petrella

From 2003 to 2006, Kaitlin Petrella led Bunnell High School to three consecutive Class LL State Championships. For her career, she totaled 393 kills, 399 aces, and 725 Digs. She led her team to a 95 and 5 four year record.

In her junior year Kaitlin was named First Team All-Colonial Division and the CT Post and New Haven Register All-Area Team. In her senior year she was named the South West Conference Co-MVP and the Class LL Connecticut State Tournament MVP. She was also named to the All-SWC team and to the All-State First Team.

Kaitlin continued her volleyball career at Central Connecticut State University. She became a Libero and from her sophomore year led her team in digs with 366. Her junior year she set a career dig record with 1,216. She was named Libero of the year in both her junior and senior years. In her senior year she was also named to the First Team All-Conference.

Currently Kaitlin is teaching physical education and health in Stratford, CT. She is also the head coach of the girls’ golf team and the JV volleyball coach at her Alma Mater, Bunnell High School

Joanna Weiss

Posted on

Joanna Weiss had an outstanding high school career at Darien HS. From 1999 until she graduated in 2002 her team won three FCIAC championships, three Eastern Division championships and three State Championships. Her team was 89 and 9 for those four years. Her awards included being named captain in her senior year, twice to the All-FCIAC team and twice to the All-State team.

She was just getting started. She continued her career at Cornell University. To say she made a contribution to their team is an understatement to say the least. The year before she arrived on campus, Cornell had tied for last in the Ivy League. Then in her first two years, 2003 and 2004, Joanna was named the most improved player. In her last three years, Cornell was the Ivy League champions. In her junior and senior years, 2005 and 2006, they earned NCAA tournament berths. In 2005 she led her team with an attack percentage of .406, a school record and the 7th best in the nation. Her career attack percentage was .384, another school record. In her senior year, she set her 3rd school record for individual blocks and the led the team to a team school record for blocks with 562. In those two years, Joanna was First Team All-Ivy as well as All-Northeast Region.

Kate Barile-Cotto

Posted on

A8MArp8CcAA5mKv

Katie played at the Morgan School in Clinton from 1995-98.

In her first year, Kate was a conference and state champion. In fact, for all four of her high school years, Kate’s team was conference and state champions.

In Kate’s junior year, she was named 2nd team all-state and a Shoreline Conference Scholar Athlete.

Named captain in her senior year, she led her team back to the state finals. She averaged 18 kills per match during the regular season. Then throughout the tournament she averaged 30 kills per match. She was named Most Valuable Player of the Class S Tournament. The New Haven Register named her both Most Valuable Player and to the All-Area Volleyball Team and Connecticut High School Coaches Assoc. also named her to the All-State team.

Kate finished her high school career with an 82-2 record, four conference championships and four state championships. She went on to play that the University of New Haven where she again distinguished herself as an outstanding volleyball player.

 

Leah Hettrick

Posted on

Hettrick

Leah Hettrick graduated from Maloney High School in Meriden in 2002. In her senior year her team was undefeated state champions. Leah was named to the First Team All-State team and the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year.

After graduating, she played at Springfield College from 2003-07. In her first year she was named Rookie of the year. In her second year, she was named to the First Team All-Conference and was voted Springfield College ‘s Volleyball Player of the Year and most Outstanding Female Athlete for team sports.

As a junior, Leah was again voted most outstanding player and female athlete. She also set three school records: digs per match, digs per game in a season and digs per game for a career. She was also named to the All-New England Region Team.

As a senior, she set the final record for digs in a career. She was named to the All-Tournament Team in two of their largest tournaments. She was named not only to the All-New England second team, but to the American Volleyball Coaches Assoc. as honorable mention All-American.

Throughout her volleyball career at Springfield College, Leah was recognized more than 20 times as an out-standing collegiate player.

 

 

Justine Metz

Posted on

metz

Justine Metz played high school volleyball at Stamford Catholic from 1980 to 1983. In her senior year, her team won the State Championship. In that year, she was named both 1st Team All-County and 1st Team All-State. When she graduated, she received a full scholarship to Georgetown University.

Justine played for Georgetown from 1984 to 1987. She was named to several All-Tournament teams and multiple times was the Big East Player of the week. She still holds the record for blocks at Georgetown.

In her senior year, Justine earned Academic All-American honors. In 1993 she was inducted into the Georgetown University’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Mia Malafronte

Posted on

mia

Until her freshman year at Amity High School in 1987, Mia Malafronte played basketball and softball and in the fall was a field hockey player. Her parents wanted her to try volleyball so she made a deal with them. She would attend a two week summer camp with CT Volleyball Hall of Fame member Kathy Symonds with the understanding that if she did not like volleyball, she would to not have to play. She fell in love with volleyball and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mia was a varsity outside hitter her sophomore year. That year her team was undefeated going into the State Championship Finals but lost a heart breaker to Maloney – 3 games to 2. The underclassmen vowed to never lose a match again. Her junior year, they defeated Maloney in the State Final and completed an undefeated season. In her senior year, they lost only two games the entire season and both were in the same match to Fitch High School. They met Fitch again, this time in the State Championship match, and won three games to none. They honored their vow and during her three year varsity career, her team was 65 and 1. Mia then played intercollegiate volley-ball for Albertus Magnus.

Mia’s awards and honors are too numerous to mention but include being a member of the 1989-90 Jr. Olympic Team Champions in the Nutmeg State Games. She was named to both the 1st Team All-Housatonic and 1st Team All-State Volleyball teams and was inducted into the Amity Athletic Hall of Fame. She was the Head Coach of the French American School of New York and presently is both the Assistant Head Coach and Junior Varsity Coach at Amity High School.

Sandy Hastings Reichel

Posted on

Sandy Hastings played High School volleyball at Cheshire from 1976-1978. Her teams won two state championships in both 1977 and 1978. Sandy also played on the Junior National Volleyball Team in 1978 and 1979.

Sandy played Division I collegiate volleyball at Rutgers University from 1978-1980. In her first year, her team played in the National Championships at the University of Alabama. She also played at San Diego State University in 1980 and 1981. They were ranked #4 in the country both years.

Sandy also played both USVBA and AAU volleyball in 1979 and 1980 and her teams were nationally ranked.

Megan Miller

Posted on

p-miller01

Megan Miller played for Jonathan Law High School from 1996 to 2000. During her high school career, she was named to the All-Conference Team three times and was twice named to the All-State Team. She was both the CT Post and New Haven Register’s Female Athlete of the year for the 1999-2000 season.

Megan played collegiate volleyball for the University of Pittsburgh from 2000 to 2004. During her career, she had 1,239 kills, 92 solo blocks, and 290 total blocks. In the 2002 season, she had a 40 % successful hitting percentage to finish ninth in the nation among Division I players. That season she was named to the Big East Second Team and in 2003 and 2004 was named to the Big East First Team. In 2003, Pitt won the Big East Championship and Megan was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. During her career, she was named Big East Player of the Week seven times, and the Big East Player of the Year in 2004. For two years, she was also named to the AVCA All-Northeast Region Team in 2003 and 2004.