Glen Cove off to hot start

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Glen Cove’s girls’ volleyball team has started off 3-1 in its first 4 league matchups in 2019. The Lady Big Red is off to a great start and is looking to build upon the improvement it has made over the past few seasons.

Senior Megan Fahey and freshman Brooke Tran lead the Lady Big Red. Fahey, a captain, had 15 kills, six aces and three blocks in Glen Cove’s season opening 3-0 shutout of Sewanhaka on the road. Tran contributed 30 assists and 12 kills, showing her multifaceted abilities on the court. Tran then added 20 kills and 12 assists in Glen Cove’s home opening win against Valley Stream South.

“We’ve changed the offense to work around her,” coach Matt said of Tran. “She has been in our program for three years and has improved everywhere. She is the best setter I’ve had in the last decade, maybe ever. She spikes the ball hard. She can pass. She can do anything.”

Carbone coached Trans’ sister Rebecca, and was excited about coaching another pair of sisters in Megan and Caroline Fahey.

“They both play in the middle, and they are both 5-11, close to 6- feet,” Carbone said. “They really are both big parts of what we’re going to do, but Caroline will get better as she keeps getting experience. She’s going to be really good because she is very coachable.”

Brianna Guillen and Elena Ortiz were both lauded by their coach as well. “In order to be a good team, what you really need is good servers and good passers,” Carbone said. “And man, are these two good passers.”

Glen Cove dropped its first conference match against a 4-1 Roslyn team on Sept. 12. “It was a close, tough game, and they played very well,” Carbone said. The game went to four sets, with Glen Cove winning the opening set 25-21 before Roslyn taking the next three 25-22, 25-14, 25-19.

Carbone’s group bounced back quickly with a 3-0 shutout over Roosevelt where they won the first match 25-2 in a dominating fashion.

While having some success early, Carbone enjoys challenging his girls by scheduling nonleague games with higher conference teams, including the annual match with crosstown “friendly” rivals North Shore.

“Our girls were playing well,” Carbone said. “Coach Tracy (Iocavelli) said that that was the best that she has seen us. We’re trying to compete every game, and playing teams in higher conferences helps us to get better.”

Beyond a matchup with Conference A4 foe Valley Stream Central, Glen Cove will see another Conference A2 team in Bethpage on Sept. 27. “We want to continue to see how we fare against these kind of teams,” Carbone said. “We split a two-match tournament game with Conference A1 Hewlett, and although it was a tournament, it felt good to compete.”

Glen Cove’s chemistry on the court comes from its chemistry off of it as well. “We have great girls, they do fun stuff together, go to escape rooms to build team unity, do fundraisers and bake sales, its great,” Carbone said.

Carbone was very adamant about his goals for the year. “The goal always is just to get better,” Carbone said. “But we want to win the conference, and I think that is very realistic.”