The Powerful Volleyball Duo

-By: Annabel Schneider-

As fall sports come to a close, girls’ volleyball does it again, bringing home another FCIAC championship title. Two of its forces through the game and season were sophomores Kelly Kosnik and Riley Sousa. Out of the 12 players on the court, six from each team, Kosnik and Sousa both start being the only starting sophomores.

“I love volleyball. I love being competitive. I can get competitive in just about anything. Volleyball specifically is my favorite sport because there is so much to it. Every person is so involved in everything that happens. You have to come so close to perfection to succeed, yet every play is a little different. Now that I think about it, I can't pinpoint why exactly I love it. It's just a passion of mine because I love every part of the game,” Sousa said.

Neither of them have been doing it long. Unlike other sports, Darien doesn’t have recreational teams for volleyball before high school. “I had participated in many camps in 8th grade. Before then, I had some camps... However, I have only been playing competitively since freshman year. My first "game" I ever played was in 9th grade,” Sousa said.

Neirad asked if there is a lot of pressure being on a team with such a strong reputation. “While playing for BWVB, We try not to think about what the players before us have achieved. We work as hard as we can to achieve our goals,” Sousa said. “Yeah people have a lot of expectations because of how we've done in the past, but once the season starts we all start focusing a lot more on how we are playing at that moment and less about how we've played before,” Kosnik said.

Being in such a competitive sport requires a lot of prep. “A lot of practice, we think about what we'll need to do the most when playing a team and work on that. We also do a lot of stuff together as a team the day of, like breakfasts and some tradition things during warm-ups to get excited... usually involving a lot of high-fives,” Kosnik said. “Right before I game, I like to listen to some of my favorite songs to get into the zone. I also try to drink a lot of water,” Sousa said.

Even when the season is over the girls are still working hard. “Last year Riley and I were on a club team called CT Impact. We traveled to tournaments every other weekend and played with other girls from all over Connecticut. We did that all the way from December to June last year. Unfortunately I can't do club this winter but I'll be doing a lot of camps and a small league in the summer,” Kosnik said.

At the moment, both girls plan to continue volleyball through the rest of their high school career. Right now they are focused on the current state competition. Whether or not they play in college, its sounds like a possibility, but neither is sure.

“I think we had a great season. We had an undefeated regular season and won FCIACs, and we'll see how we do in States! We accomplished so much,” Kosnik said.

Photo caption: Riley Sousa, left, and Kelly Kosnik during FCIAC championship on Nov. 6. Photo courtesy of Connecticut Post