'Unmasking the hidden need' - Valley Press

Simsbury defeats
Newtown in volleyball
By Tim Jensen
Correspondent
SIMSBURY – The gymnasium
at Simsbury High School is
decorated with banners listing
state championship teams from
15 different sports. Girls volleyball
is not yet among them.
But this year’s squad took a
step toward hanging one in the
future. The Trojans went 15-3
in the regular season to earn a
home match – and a first-round
bye – in the Class LL state tournament.
Simsbury, the No. 7 seed in
the 25-team field, advanced to
the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory
over No. 10 Newtown Nov.
7. The scores: 25-22, 25-17, 17-25,
25-15.
Caroline Hendershot had 15
kills and 17 digs for Simsbury.
Allison Davis had seven kills and
Shelby Seaman added six along
with 17 digs. Libero Catherine
Stine had 13 digs, Katherine Amarell
16 assists and Madeline Kodak
10 assists.
“We knew they were a
strong hitting team, so we really
emphasized strong blocks,”
Simsbury coach Dan Franczek
said. “I thought we played a complete
game today. Our focus was
serve-receive because we knew
they were a strong serving team.
We did a great job with that, and
that obviously helped us get into
our offense and be able to hit.”
Trailing 11-10 in the first
game, Simsbury got several
blocks on a long rally to tie the
score. The Trojans pulled ahead
and put the game away on a winner
by senior Allison Davis.
In the second game, Simsbury
jumped out to 6-0 lead.
Davis thwarted a Newtown
comeback with a huge block,
making it 15-10 and ended
the game with a kill. Newtown
won the third game, extending
the match.
“It got away from us a bit
in the third game,” Franczek
said. “The ball was going off
the blocks out of bounds, but I
thought we made an adjustment
and did a nice job generally
speaking throughout the match.”
Simsbury bounced back in
the fourth game, taking a 6-0
lead and remaining in control
the whole set.
The Trojans lost to No. 2
seed Staples, 3-0, Nov. 9. The
scores: 25-21, 25-20, 25-25. Simsbury
finished 16-5 overall.
Photo by David Heuschkel
The Avon High field hockey team celebrates Terri Ziemnicki’s 300th coaching victory with the Falcons by
dumping a bucket of confetti on her. Avon advanced to the semifinals against Lauralton Hall.
MILESTONE from page 25
said she was giving one of the
game balls to team manager Lauren
Pastore, a freshman at Avon
who has battled cancer.
Ziemnicki remembered the
date of her 200th win – Oct. 5,
2006. She recalled it was a night
game at home and the Falcons
beat Enfield, 1-0. She said No.
100 was against Hall but doesn’t
remember about her first victory,
back in 1989.
“I just try every day to be a
good role model as a person, as
a former player, as a coach, as a
mom, I just try to live by a good
example,” Ziemnicki said.
“When I come here, I just
work hard. I don’t know how to
not work hard. I think that’s what
I bring every day. You want to call
it a passion for the game, a passion
for my athletes, a passion for
life.
“John Wooden says it the
best: ‘Be the best of what you are
capable of being.’ I try to live that
every day. It’s not easy. When I was
coaching younger, I was always
searching for perfection. I wanted
to be perfect. Now I use mistakes
as opportunities to be better. That
is what’s made me a better coach.”
Cathy Creasey said Ziemnicki
is still intense but she has a
different perspective to coaching.
“She may not have had that
state championship but she’s
changed more lives of more young
women that you can shake a stick
at,” said Creasey, whose daughters
played for Ziemnicki. “That’s more
important than all the wins.”
ELIMINATES from page 25
the half. Senior Sean Janson gave
the Falcons a 1-0 lead with 2:30
left. The Indians had a quick
answer when senior Matt Sroka
set up sophomore Evan Hughes
with 43 seconds on the clock.
“Giving up a goal when
we did right before the half
was tough, but I thought we
started the second half well,”
Zlatin said.
Some early pressure resulted
in an Avon corner kick and a
good chance, but Zaino headed
the ball just over the net. Less
than two minutes later, an Avon
shot from the top of the box
sailed high.
Three minutes later, Farmington
had its first chance in the
second half and finished. Kolacz
carried down the right side
and sent a cross into the box,
where Akter headed the ball
past sophomore goalkeeper
Marcus Husted.
In the final 15 minutes,
Avon had several good chances
but wasn’t able to beat junior
goalie Crook. Riley Strassner
had three good looks, including
one right in front that Crook
stopped. With just under 4 minutes
left, Crook made a sliding
save on a shot from the right
side by Strassner.
“Jeff was huge. He was spot
on every play,” Waters said.
Crook illustrated his aggressive
style on a direct kick
by Jared Rosenblatt, charging
out and leaping to snare the ball
with 1:20 left.
“I’ve been doing that all
season and I just felt comfortable
coming out,” Crook said.
“The real problem I have is either
making a decision to punch
it out or catch it. Since it’s been
pretty cold out, I haven’t really
been catching them as well.
This one worked out.”
It was the seventh time
since 1980 that Farmington and
Avon met in the tournament.
Last year was the most lopsided
outcome as the Indians beat the
Falcons 5-0 to win, giving Waters
his seventh state title.
The teams played five times
in the 1980s, including three
straight years in the Class M
tournament. Marty deLivron’s
Avon squad beat Farmington
in the ’84 and ‘85 quarterfinals,
and the Falcons went on to win
the state title both years. The
following season, Farmington
beat Avon in the final. The decade
began with Farmington
beating Avon 1-0 in the quarterfinals
and ended with the
Falcons beating the Indians
on penalty kicks in the semifinals.
“I imagine the players were
more excited about playing
Farmington than the two coaches
were,” Zlatin said about this
year’s second-round matchup.
“It’s kind of early for two teams
with 30 combined wins to play
in the state tournament, but
that’s the luck of the draw.”
GRAY MATTERS from page 25
the Huskies their best opportunity.
The Big Ten also appears to be
the league of choice for UConn
president Susan Herbst for a couple
of reasons.
Herbst was not happy about
the reception she recieved from
the ACC, which many felt at the
time was already poised to accept
UConn. ACC officials opened
with a crtitical question for Herbst,
“What about that men’s basketball
coach of yours?”, a clear indication
the league was concerned about a
percieved “win at all costs” mentality
within the program. Herbst
further percieved she was being
snubbed when it appeared UConn
was within 24 hours of receiving an
invitation to the ACC, only to have
it go to Louisville instead.
Herbst also covets the academic
prestige that comes with
membership in the Big Ten, which
requires member institutions to
have achieved American Association
of Universities (AAU) status.
With technological and research
advancements under Herbst UConn
is on the threshhold. In her
mind the Big Ten is a natural fit.
UConn may have also seemed like
a natural fit to Big Ten officials,
until now.
Incidents of the last month
shed a new, unfavorable, light on
UConn. Four women filed a federal
lawsuit charging the university with
responding to complaints of sexual
abuse on campus with “deliberate
indifference.” They are among seven
women who have asked for a
federal Title IX investigation of the
school. The four are being represented
by high profile women’s
rights attorney Gloria Allred, which
creates an even greater glare from
that unfavorable light. One of the
women claims to have been sexually
assaulted by a UConn football
player and alleges the program was
informed of the allegation. When
approached about that claim last
week, former head football coach
Paul Pasqualoni denied ever receiving
such a notifaction.
Two weeks ago, almost as a
direct response to the concerns of
ACC officials, it was revealed that
the men’s basketball classes that
entered school from 2002 to 2006
generated a graduation rate of just
8 percent. It appears that of all the
players who enrolled during that
time, Charles Okwandu, a little
used forward from Lagos, Nigeria,
was the only scholarship member
of the team to graduate, receiving
his degree in 2011.
Herbst can’t magically make
these two issues go away, though
the latter will be pretty much irradicated
in the spring, when the
NCAA releases the latest APR
scores, with the UConn men’s basketball
team expected to have a
perfect 1,000. It is unlikely, however,
that any league, particularly the
Big Ten, is willing to inherit a campus
problem like the sexual abuse
issue UConn currently faces. When
the first of those allegations came
forward, Herbst viewed it as an isolated
incident that would not become
a major issue. Today it’s the
biggest issue she has to deal with
and if it isn’t dealt with satisfactorily,
the clock may stop ticking on a
big time home for UConn athletics.
28 The Valley Press November 14, 2013