Terriers look for crown after another dominant regular season

Much like a season ago, St. Francis Prep is running through their Catholic League volleyball schedule unimpeded. The Terriers are treating their chief rivals, Mary Louis and Molloy, the three previous CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan champions, as mere sparring partners, as was the case last fall.
They can only hope the similarities between this year and last ends when the regular season is complete.
After all, St. Francis dropped a heartbreaking Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan final to Molloy, a loss “that shouldn’t have happened,” Coach Kevin Colucci said.
Why?
“We should’ve gotten one more point,” he deadpanned.
There was obviously more to it. The Terriers beat the Stanners twice during the regular season, but failed down the stretch of the penultimate tilt, even as Molloy’s top two players were out of their rotation.
“It’s still one of the hardest losses coaching-wise I’ve been involved in,” Colucci said. “We felt we were the better team through the year, and it was unfortunate we didn’t win that match.”
“It was,” senior setter Emily Pennachio added, “probably the hardest loss I’ve ever had to deal with, too.”
St. Francis has put that loss behind them, although they sure haven’t forgotten. Yet to drop a game within a match in league play, the Terriers are far more balanced than they were a season ago, when they depended on talented middle hitter Ariel Pierre, now at Temple University.
In her place, are a number of hitters - Jen Cunningham and Theresa Quinn are on the outside and Rebecca Spitz and Courtney Hanson on the inside - that have dutifully filled the void. The depth has enabled Pennachio to spread the wealth evenly.
“If you look at our stats, we have five or six kills across the board,” Colucci said.
“Yeah, I love setting,” Pennachio said.
Looking at the size she has to utilize on either side - Hanson is 6-foot, Spitz and Quinn are 5-foot-9, and Cunningham is 5-foot-7 1/2 - others would crave that role as well. It’s the biggest team Colucci has had the pleasure of coaching at St. Francis, an advantage that makes a tangible difference in each facet of play.
“Our team has really grown a lot and we’ve been able to mesh together,” Cunningham said. “It’s not just one star player, it’s a bunch of star players. We work well together.”
Soon, though, the undefeated league mark will be put to the test. It will be time for the Terriers to exorcise last season’s demons. Even girls who were not on that squad, who were not even in the crowd on that fateful November night, are well aware of the devastation.
“Everyone knows the story,” Cunningham said. “It means a lot to everyone. The Brooklyn/Queens championship is what you shoot for.”