Girls Volleyball

Panthers sweep Maloney

Platt 3 Maloney 0

MERIDEN — Platt volleyball coach Lou Gianacopolos has preached to his players that the other team in Meriden is just that — another team.

“There’s always the aspect of the in-town rivalry, I knew coming in we would see the negative signs on the walls, but that's not what my girls are about. It's about the volleyball" but my goal since I’ve been here (three years) is to make them forget about the rivalry and just make it a volleyball game,” Gianacopolos said. “Let the volleyball determine who wins.”

That approach paid dividends Monday night as the Panthers tossed aside the Spartans just like the last seven opponents they faced.

Led by Jayme Standish 25 assists and 5 kills, Platt handed cross-town rival and long-time nemesis Maloney a sweep by scores of 25-17, 25-17 and 25-20 at Ben Nessing Gymnasium.

Nicole Carbone had 14 kills and Kim Arthur added 10 digs, Jill Pascale had 9 kills, 5 digs,for Platt, which is now 8-1 overall and in the CCC South.

The Panthers used a 9-0 run to pull away in the first game and then opened the second game with 11 straight points. They never trailed in the third game.

Even though he tries to keep it even-keel when it comes to Maloney, Gianacopolos acknowledged afterward the win felt good.

“Yeah, it does,” he said. “Especially since I was reading in the paper how they have the number one libero (defensive specialist Sheyenne Sgambati) in the state.”

Sgambati had 22 digs for the Spartans, who fell to 4-5 overall and 4-3 in the CCC South. Lindsey Massicotte chipped in 16 kills and 16 digs.

Maloney, however, couldn’t overcome some costly mistakes. Balls were harmlessly dropping between players due to miscommunication. Wayward serves resulted in faults. Those types of mistakes were tough to overcome.

“We didn’t execute defensively in certain spots where we needed to be,” Maloney coach Pam Cloutier said. “That’s the one thing we pride ourselves on is that we play defense and a lot of time it didn’t happen today — a lot of times.”

"I love my team" said Gianacopolos

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