The Guilford volleyball team entered 2017 feeling confident about its prospects considering all the talent and intangibles among the athletes on its roster. However, what the Indians didn’t realize is that they would pool those resources and parlay them into the best regular season in program history.

For the first time in her tenure as head coach, Laura Meyer featured a couple of freshmen on her varsity roster with Emma Appleman and Juliet Young, who were surrounded by experienced upperclass athletes that returned to starting positions on the varsity squad. Guilford stormed out of the gates by winning its first 14 contests and, despite taking a couple of recent defeats, finished with the team’s all-time best regular season record of 18-2, according to Coach Meyer. The Indians also went 8-0 in the Oronoque Division to take the division title. Guilford opens play as the No. 2 seed in the SCC Tournament this week and will then compete in the Class L State Tournament.

In last week’s matches, the Indians swept Shelton 3-0 (25-8, 25-19, 25-10) at home on Oct. 23 before taking a 3-2 loss at non-conference opponent East Lyme 3-2.

“Right from the beginning of this year, there was a different tone set, and there was more hustle,” said Meyer. “The freshmen came in and hustled, and they made everyone better, because they followed suit and hustled. They are a great group of girls, and they are all friends, and there’s no groups between the girls. Friendships make the game more enjoyable, as well.”

The Indians’ division championship may look easy on paper given their perfect record, but along the way, they earned several pivotal victories that bolstered their confidence moving forward. Even after losing to Branford for its first defeat, Guilford handled it with the poise of a savvy squad, knowing that there were plenty of big matches still to come.

“We ended up being stronger than we anticipated as a team, and we had talent that were pleasant surprises,” Coach Meyer said. “Hand is always a big game, and so the girls were excited when we beat them the first time. We went into the second match with Sheehan undefeated and us winning in five sets gave them the confidence that they can win the close games. Against Branford, we left the gym saying how we wouldn’t let this get us down. Learning how to come back from a loss is important to us.”

The Indians’ freshmen tandem of Appleman and Young has leaving everything out on the floor in both practices and matches this fall. That’s hardly a surprise to Meyer, who said they’ve done a great job of emulating the heart and hustle displayed by the club’s veterans.

“When the freshmen step onto the court, they give 100 percent all of the time, and the other girls feed off of that. Emma plays the entire rotation, and Juliet plays libero, a tough position for a freshman,” Meyer said. “Trinity Flynn is a third-year starter, and [fellow senior captain] Julia Hyman in a first-year starter, but they had to get acclimated to a new team and new people. They are mature and nice girls that want the team to do well. They and the rest of the seniors have welcomed everyone with open arms.”

Facing Shelton last week, Appleman recorded nine kills and four digs, while Young finished with 11 digs in the 3-0 victory. Flynn had five kills, a block, and five digs; senior Amanda King added eight kills and six digs; and Hyman handed out 23 assists to go with six digs and three aces for the Indians, who secured a first round bye in the SCC Tournament with this win.

Guilford is seeded No. 2 in the SCC Tournament and will face No. 7 Branford in the quarterfinals at home on Monday, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. The semifinals take place on Thursday, Nov. 2, and the final will be on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. at East Haven High School.

Coach Meyer knows that the competition only gets stiffer in the playoffs, but she feels the Indians will be quite alright if they continue doing what they have been by cranking up their intensity for each and every opponent.

“We know we will be playing tougher teams in SCCs and states,” said Meyer. “We can’t just be happy enough to be in the postseason, and we have to know we have to work harder.”

From the Sidelines

Some of the Guilford volleyball squad’s top stat producers this year are Trinity Flynn (135 kills, 28 digs), junior Hunter Halbower (49 kills, 31 blocks), senior captain Julia Hyman (90 digs, 32 kills), freshman Juliet Young (143 digs, 196 serve receptions), and senior Amanda King (123 kills, 103 digs).

This season marks the first SCC Oronoque Division title for the Indians. Guilford last won a division title when it shared the Hammonasset Division crown with Hand in the 2015. The SCC then realigned its divisions last fall.

Fifteen of Guilford’s wins came by 3-0 sweeps this season.

The Class L State Tournament begins on Monday, Nov. 6 with first round play and concludes with the final on Saturday, Nov. 18 at East Haven High School.