Silvia Sartori would prefer to talk about the journey the New Hope High School volleyball team has made this season.
As uplifting as it has been to watch the program go from two victories in its inaugural season in 2012 to making the state tournament this season, it is hard not to notice all of the things Sartori does in the center of the Lady Trojans’ attack. At 6-foot-1, the exchange student from Serbia is equally adept handling serve receive, making a pass, or delivering a kill. While some players are capable of swinging only in ideal situations, Sartori showed Saturday she can get results with the ball in a variety of positions or if it is close a several feet away from the net. That talent helped Sartori record 37 kills in New Hope’s 3-2 victory against Lewisburg in the semifinals of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class II North State tournament.
The victory was New Hope’s first in the postseason and helped it advance to face Lake Cormorant at 6 tonight in the Class II North State title match. The winner will play for a state title at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi College in Clinton.
For her efforts in helping New Hope make history, Sartori is The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week.
“I think as a team we played really good,” Sartori said. “I think I played good, but I hope we continue to play better and better as a team. Without my team, we couldn’t win.
“I just wanted to help my team win. I was so scared because I thought I was going to miss. I just try to do my best every time.”
New Hope High volleyball coach Laura Lee Holman, who also is the school’s girls basketball and girls golf coach, said Sartori has helped her understand how a hitter thinks when they attack the net. Last year in the program’s first season, Holman instructed her players to set the ball toward the hitters. This season, she said Sartori has helped her understand it is better for setters to try to pass the ball in front of the hitters so they can have all of their momentum going forward when they swing.
“We have re-adjusted our setters and we have practiced it every day,” Holman said. “It is getting better, but it is one of those learning curves for coach Holman, and it is a really good example of one of those details of volleyball she has pointed out to me and the rest of the kids that has been able to improve our game and take it to another level.”
Holman said setters Ashley Martian and Kayla Smith have done a good job of re-adjusting to sending passes toward the net. As a result, she said the Lady Trojans’ other hitters also have improved.
As much as the setters have improved, Sartori is accustomed to playing with more experienced setters in Serbia. She also is used to facing single and double blocks at the net, which is a big change from high school volleyball in Mississippi, where she occasionally will encounter one or two players as tall as she is who can affect her swing. Holman said Sartori has adjusted there, too, bending and twisting her arms and body to reach balls or to guide them into open spaces on the other side of the net.
“One of the first things I ever noticed about her was her body control and body awareness and her hand-eye coordination are just unbelievable,” Holman said. “Along with an athletic, tall body, that is a deadly combination in the game of volleyball. When the set isn’t perfect, she has been able to make something out of it, or if a ball comes at her from an awkward situation, she can turn and make the ball go in the direction she wants it to go. My kids and other players have watcher her do that and learn how to re-adjust. We have worked on having our shoulders pointed toward where you want the ball to go. Her hand-eye coordination is one of her best assets.”
Sartori said it was an adjustment not having a block when she hits. She said she has remembered the lessons from her coach in Serbia who has taught her to scan the court on her approach to tell where the blockers will be and where the open spots on the floor will be. She showed an uncanny knack to find those open areas Saturday by using two-hand pushes or tips, an off-speed hit over the top or around opponents, to avoid a potential block.
“I need to use every ball the best I can,” Sartori said. “I think I did that (against Lewisburg). I think I learned during the season that is what I had to do. The girls have improved their setting every game.”
Sartori capitalized on those sets in the final game to help New Hope rally from a 13-10 deficit. She made solid contact on a kill that was dug and caromed high into the rafters on the Lewisburg side and came down quickly to make it 13-11. Leigh Atkins’ ace made it 13-12 before Mercedes Mattix had a kill on an overpass to tie the score. Sartori showed her ability to change things up on the next point when she hit across the court to the right front corner for her final kill to give the Lady Trojans match point.
“You cannot hit every ball hard,” Sartori said. “You need to mix it up. I think that is the most important thing.”
A block by Mattix helped New Hope make history and set off a celebration Sartori was proud to be a part of.
“I was so happy and I started crying because I was so happy,” Sartori said. “I was so proud of my team and my teammates. We played really hard. I think we deserve to go to North State.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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