For only the second time in program history, Central Connecticut’s volleyball team was able to secure a regular season championship in the 2017 season. Central finished the year boasting a 19-8 record, with a record of 11-3 in the NEC conference. 

Despite ultimately losing in the NEC tournament championship in a 3-2 set to (eleven-time champions) LIU Brooklyn, the Blue Devils are as poised as ever to have another strong season and are hungry for another chance at the title.

Head coach Linda Sagnelli admitted that while the end of their season “did not end up going as planned,” she did not want the loss to distract from the “great season” the team still had. 

With no current freshmen on the roster, the Blue Devils head into the 2018 season with a built-in chemistry. With this advantage, Sagnelli explained that the team was able to “start right where [they] left off in spring training,” adding that there was “no learning curve for us,” allow them to “get into things this year much faster and easier.”

Although the Blue Devils’ experience has already been able to help the team, there are also a few challenges Central will have to face in the upcoming season. With Maddie Smith and Lindsay Massicotte graduating this past year, they will be without two of their greatest contributors. 

With Smith and Massicotte, Central ranked first in the NEC for blocks, hitting percentage and opponents hitting percentage. However, Central was only in the middle of the pack in assists, kills and digs, ranking fourth in the conference for all three.

Sagnelli and the Blue Devils will try to emulate the dominance they held last season while trying to also improve by being a team with plenty of depth from their aforementioned experienced players. The team is “looking to be deep,” said Sagnelli, with players “working on multiple positions this year.”

One player to watch out for this season is senior outside hitter, Raquel Quirarte. During her junior year season, Quirarte finished first in blocks (11), second in kills (218) and tied for first in points per set (3.1). Quirarte was a leader for the Blue Devils’ offense but battled an ankle injury towards the end of the season that kept her sidelined for the final two games of the season. Going into her senior season, Quirarte will look to have another strong season for the Blue Devils.

Another weapon returning for the Blue Devils is junior Madelyn Kaprelyan. During her sophomore season for Central, the opposite hitter put up quite the stat line, leading the team in points (334), kills (290) and putting up a team-best 2.69 kills per set. Kaprelyan was selected to the second team All-NEC last year while also making the NEC All-tournament team after an impressive postseason run by the sophomore.

The Blue Devils will kick off the year playing in the Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic, playing against Eastern Michigan, St. John’s, Manhattan and Fordham before starting the regular season in an away game at Hartford. Sagnelli acknowledged that “there’s a lot of difficult competition for us right from the first day.”

The home opener at Central will not be until Sept. 21, when the Blue Devils take on conference opponent Robert Morris.