In her nineteenth season at the helm of Central Connecticut volleyball, head coach Linda Sagnelli added another great year to her already impressive resume.

Central was able to play competitively in the tough Northeast Conference this year, finishing with a 10-4 conference record (with a 6-1 record at home) before losing in the semi-finals of the NEC Tournament to Bryant. The loss was a tough one for the Blue Devils, who were mere points away from taking the game before a charge-back from the Bulldogs.

On the close match, Sagnelli “thought we [the team] were going to get them in the fourth set, but they got a couple of breaks that went their way along with a few good volleys to end the set.”

The competition, Bryant included, in the NEC is something Sagnelli knew well heading into the postseason. “We knew it was going to be a close match. Any one of the teams that were playing had a shot at winning [the tournament].”

Before conference play started, CCSU had some impressive results against some very tough teams. The Blue Devils defeated Iona, Sagnelli’s previous school, who landed a spot in this past weekend’s NCCA Tournament. Also playing in the tournament were Michigan State, Eastern Michigan and Yale, all of whom the Blue Devils battled with during their early season out of conference play.

Two seniors will be leaving CCSU volleyball in the offseason, Raquel Quirarte and Kaitlyn Kushman, whose presence on the court will be missed by their coach and teammates.

In their final game against Bryant this year, Kushman “played her best game of the year, and I was very proud of her,” according to Sagnelli.

Though the team will be without this year’s seniors, Sagnelli knows “the team has a very strong nucleus.”

The praises did not stop for her team, as Sagnelli delved further into the winning mentality of the team.

“The team already wants to get right back at it, I had to tell them to rest first. They impress me every day with their work ethic. They’ve got a great comradery and culture,” she said.

In the 2018 campaign, Sagnelli saw “a lot of individual improvement” in the Blue Devils, something she thinks will continue to show as the offseason goes along.

“I think a lot of players are going to make great strides in the Spring. Our new recruits join us in August, and that’s when we really meld the group together,” she continued.

The two new faces that will join Central for Sagnelli’s 20th season as coach, recruits from Michigan and Colorado, were both All-State Selections out of high school, and add even more depth to a team that utilized their deep bench last season.

The team will return for their spring training after a five-week break.