Baldwin enjoying breakout year

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The Baldwin girls’ volleyball team is enjoying a breakout in 2019 after struggling in recent seasons and has vaulted itself as an immediate contender for the conference title.

The Lady Bruins started hot by winning their first four games of the campaign, all against Conference AA-C foes, and pushed their record to 5-1 after a 3-1 home victory over Plainview-JFK last Saturday. The five wins already matched the entire total from last year, which featured a four-game losing streak to start the season and a three-game slump that ended it.

Coach April Mosca, who is in her second season back with the team following a hiatus from the program, credited the maturity of last year’s sophomores for the turnaround.

“The younger players from last year who are now juniors this year are really stepping up,” she said. “They’re taking a leadership role really nice and early and their attitudes are fantastic.”

Baldwin showed its resiliency last weekend by bouncing back from a 3-1 loss to South Side on Sept. 20 and overcoming a tough 25-22 second-set loss to Plainview that tied that match a game apiece. The Lady Bruins squeaked out 25-23 and 25-21 victories in the third and fourth sets to seal the victory.

“I think our biggest struggle now is our serving,” Mosca said. “We missed 17 serves [against South Side] so that, to me, was why we lost the match.”

Junior Tevin Mahlstadt, who started playing volleyball last year, has made tremendous strides at the right outside hitter spot and strong contributions in Baldwin’s wins. She had 11 kills in each of the first two games against Oceanside and Wheatley (with six blocks in the latter) and showed off her serving skills with nine aces in a straight-sets win over Farmingdale.

“She’s so dominant hitting and blocking,” Mosca said. “She’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Another junior, Briana Espert, is back to giving the opposition fits after missing significant time last year with an injury. She had seven kills against Wheatley, and nine more in each of the following two games against Seaford and Farmingdale.

“She’s our most consistent player right now,” Mosca said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down 20 points, she’s trying to win at any cost. She’s a competitor for sure.”

Senior Ava Bandel and junior setter Kaitlyn Trepeta have been the team’s most consistent servers, according to Mosca, who also credited middle blockers Claire McCleary (six blocks against Oceanside), Gabrielle Biggs and Karaline Mahler for Baldwin’s strong start as well.

The conference is shaping up to be a three-team race between Baldwin, Massapequa and Syosset, which eliminated the Lady Bruins in each of the last three playoff quarterfinals. Baldwin faced both of those teams earlier this week, after press time, and Mosca believes the competition will remain stiff down the stretch.

“Syosset is always consistent and competitive and, obviously, Massapequa is too, so I’m excited,” she said. “I think it will be a battle.”