Rays Aiming High

When Alyssa Stolinas decided to test her up-and-coming volleyball team by scrimmaging two big school opponents, Naples and Ft. Myers, on August 15 and 17 at the St. John Neumann gymnasium, she probably didn’t think every set would be tightly contested. So she was happy when her young Class 2A squad went toe-to-toe with 5A Naples before narrowly dropping a tense five-set match on Tuesday, then defeated 6A Ft. Myers, 2-1, in a three-set match on Thursday. Marco Island Academy (MIA) was thoroughly tested in eight hard-fought sets in the two-day scrimmage, winning four of them.

“All of our games were neck and neck,” said Stolinas. “Against Naples, we lost the fifth set, 15-13. We were down one of our starting middles and one of our starting right sides against Naples, but we had them back for Fort Myers. We actually played Naples and Ft. Myers last year in pre-season as well. And we got spanked last year. So starting this year by pulling off the win against Fort Myers and playing a close five-set game with Naples was refreshing to see. It just hits that check mark. We are growing, and that's what I want to see. We're already ten steps ahead of where we were at the beginning of last season. Making sure we continue to grow is the main goal."

The missing players were Rylee Howard and Jayden Ragan, two key cogs in last year’s 17-5 team that won the program’s first regional playoff game.

"Our whole team has been sick recently,” Stolinas said, “I’m looking forward to having everybody healthy.”

Playing up 3-4 classes against Naples and Ft. Myers was a great challenge, especially for MIA’s freshmen. The first-year students sometimes looked like deer in the headlights against Naples.

"My little freshmen,” Stolinas laughs. “It's tough because they go from middle school, and they're playing against 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds. They're playing against high-level girls. So making that jump for them is just scary."

Stolinas said most of those opening-game jitters were gone when MIA faced Ft. Myers.

"They did calm a lot down on Thursday,” Stolinas said. “Once they saw how the game works and what to expect, they calmed down a lot."

Of course, it didn’t hurt having the stability of sophomores Howard and Jayden Ragan back in the lineup. Madison Stolinas, the coach’s niece and team captain, is also a sophomore. Medney Garraux, the team’s top outside hitter, is another sophomore.

“That's the thing,” Stolinas said, “we're expecting some big things from Riley and Madison this year. The three sophomores play high-level club volleyball. Compared to last year, you can see that Medney's grown tremendously. Maddy's grown tremendously, and so has Riley. It’s just exciting, that's for sure.”

The Rays have just one senior, but she’s a good one, Jenna Ragan, the older sister of Jayden.

“We have 11 underclassmen,” Stolinas said, "four freshmen, four sophomores, and three juniors. So we're still pretty young. Jenna has grown so much and has a high volleyball IQ. She's giving 100%. She knows this is her final moment, and she's doing incredibly well.”

One of MIA’s freshmen is libero Sophia Ogden. Stolinas likes what she sees in the rookie.

"I love that kid to death,” Stolinas said. "What I love about Sophia is she always wants to learn more. She's never content just being the way she is. She constantly asks questions, even during the game. She's just super eager to learn more about the game. And that's what I love about her.”

MIA hosted Community School on Tuesday, August 22, and played at Everglades City Thursday, August 24, before heading to a weekend tournament in Winter Haven.

“We're kind of starting off with a strong schedule,” Stolinas said, "which I'm super excited for. I think it's going to be a great measuring stick and it will show us what we really need to focus on. We have good girls in key roles and it's just a matter of getting those freshmen confident and comfortable with the game. I think we should be good."