Monomoy Volleyball Wins Consecutive Games For First Time In Program History

SEEKONK – Monomoy volleyball checked off a first last week when it beat Rising Tide 3-0 and Sturgis East 3-1 to win two games in a row, something that had never been done before in the program’s short history.

The consecutive wins, the first-ever set of them for Monomoy, is a milestone for a team that only began playing in 2023. The two-game win streak ended last Friday when the Sharks lost at Seekonk 3-0 in what was their third match in five days. 

Monomoy had been 0-4 until it broke off the two victories last Monday, Sept. 22 and Wednesday, Sept. 24. Of those four initial losses, their first two games were sweeps. The Sharks took two sets in each of the next couple but just couldn’t pull out the matches in the end. But they needed to know they could win, head coach Lindsey Hooper said.

“I think once they got a taste of like, ‘we can do it,’ we turned a little bit of a corner,” Hooper said.

Monomoy won two games in its inaugural season and five last year in Hooper’s first season as head coach. But the pair of wins this year are the first time two Ws sit next to each other on Monomoy volleyball’s schedule. That means something for a team with a young starting lineup, whose juniors and seniors have been there for the program’s duration, where any win is rightfully understood to be an accomplishment.

More than an hour and a half west of campus last Friday, that streak was cut short by Seekonk in straight sets. Inside Seekonk’s steaming gymnasium (the “arcade,” as it’s called), the home Warriors comfortably took set one 25-13 and squeaked out the following two 25-23 and 25-22. 

Monomoy and Seekonk stuck together like glue in the second set, knotting each other into scores of 2-2, 7-7, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12, 13-13, 15-15, 17-17, 18-18, 20-20, 22-22 and, finally, 23-23 until Seekonk found the last couple of points. The trend continued into the third, with the Sharks and Warriors tied 13-13. Monomoy took a 14-13 lead, Seekonk fired back to go up 20-16 and a late rally by the Sharks down 24-20 fell short.

“Tough loss for us,” Hooper said. “Didn't have it. It's OK.”

The Sharks have just one senior — Amalia DeCastro — in the starting lineup, so much of the team is playing varsity for the first time. DeCastro is “solidly all-around a great player,” Hooper said.

“And she has been for the last three years, so it will be sad when she goes, for sure,” she said.

At the setter position for Monomoy is freshman Ella Cutter, who’s in her second year setting after emerging into the role partway through last season as an eighth grader. Cutter is a six-rotation player that never comes out of the game.

“She was running around the court all day today, back and forth, but she's awesome,” Hooper said. “She's a really good leader on the court, even though she's a freshman. She makes a lot of really good plays. She's very smart, and she's still learning, so she'll be even more lethal, I think, as the years go on.”

One of Monomoy’s strongest performers this year has been middle blocker Rory Shortis, whom Hooper said has been playing “out of her mind.” Shortis, a junior, had 12 hits against Sturgis East and is a go-to in the front row.

“I'm super impressed with her improvement from last year,” Hooper said. “She worked really hard in the offseason. She loves playing, and she just sucks in all the knowledge at practice.”

Sophomore Kinsey Lister, in her first year playing varsity, is a “super aggressive” six-rotation outside hitter with great defense, according to Hooper. Lister, importantly, also attacks from the back row, where she’s strong as a hitter. That helps Cutter out to know she doesn’t have to push the ball on unfavorable passes but can rather toss it up to Lister. She got most of her hits from the back row against Seekonk.

“She's just really smart,” Hooper said. “She's got good high volleyball IQ, as they say, and she's not afraid to take a swing, which is awesome, so she's definitely been a huge help. Defensively, she's like all over the place too, which is awesome.”