Newfield volleyball makes back-to-back sectional finals

Last season featured one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Section IV volleyball. After winning just two games in 2022, Newfield went 8-4 in the regular season and made it all the way to the Section IV Class D championship. This year’s team made sure that last year was far from a fluke.

The Trojans had a similarly successful regular season, entering sectionals with an 8-5 mark, and once again advanced to the Class D final. Those back-to-back championship appearances were both under the tutelage of Ashley King. Given the amount of turnover in the squad between seasons, she was thrilled to see her team continue to excel.

“I’m super proud of our team this year,” King said. “We lost five seniors last season who were real leaders on our team, and so we had to come back and fill some big shoes. But also there is a lot of pressure to make that same sectional run again, and so I’m really proud of the girls. We endured through a really tough schedule that we had, but we still made our comeback to finals.”

As King alluded to, the Trojans had a difficult start to the schedule. They lost to the defending sectional champions Candor twice, the reigning IAC champions Spencer-Van Etten twice, and the eventual Class C runner-up Thomas A. Edison once. But they found they stride towards the tail end of the regular season, winning their last four matches ahead of sectionals.

“We didn’t have a home game again until midway through the season, but it was really great to get back playing at home and kind of take the momentum from there to roll some teams,” King said. “We really needed those games, and so I think once we got our momentum after that initial hill we had to climb, the ability for the girls to bounce back after a tough opener was really cool to see.”

Newfield entered the postseason as the fifth seed in the Class D tournament. They pulled off a mini-upset over fourth-ranked Oxford in the quarterfinals before prevailing in pool play to punch their ticket to a second straight final. To achieve this given the adversity they’ve faced is more than commendable.

“I think there was even more than just coming back from a few tough losses during the regular season,” King said. “Our team faced a lot of sickness and injury this season, so that was also another huge challenge we had to endure. But I think the team coming together through all of that this season really helped us with pool play to keep coming back and fighting. In the past, we’ve struggled to come back when we haven’t just come out winning three straight [sets], and I think we’re really trying to develop that winning culture and the ability to be resilient even when we face some tough losses or things get challenging for them.”

While the Trojans had arguably more talent last season—including All-State outside hitter Mina Thomas—King felt that this year’s team is greater than the sum of its parts.

“Last year even we had kind of just singular All Stars where some people really shined in their individual position,” King said. “But I think this year, we just had a much more unified team skill. We’ve also grown a lot in our front row, in our middles. We’ve actually run things through the middle this year and try to get some blocks off. I think we’ve grown a lot as a cohesive team and sort of spreading that skill out in all areas rather than just relying on one or two people to put the points away.”

The Trojans only returned two IAC All-Stars, one of which was Issy Robbins. The senior right-side hitter had another strong campaign, and she ensured her final season was another memorable one.

“She knew that this was it, and so she really showed up,” King said. “She puts it away with her great cross-court hits. She had another really great season, not only from the right side, but also at the service line. She had some really big games for us.”

Paige Bassi was the other returning All-Star, and the sophomore was once again paramount to their success as their setter. Another underclassman who dazzled was freshman Kate Chaffee, featuring nearly everywhere on the court.

While the Trojans ultimately fell short to Candor in the championship for the second time in a row, there’s no doubt that they’ll be hard at work to get back to the final once next season rolls around and try to win it all.

“A lot of our girls are really putting in work in the offseason,” King said. “I just think that’s going to continue to show for our team where we’re not just playing one season, but a lot of people are putting in work year-round. I really think that that’s going to start to shine through as we continue to grow here at Newfield.”