October 2001

By: Seán McCluskey

Questions and Answers from Wachusett Varsity Girls’ Volleyball Coach Al Morel

Any standout players that deserved to be mentioned?
The team is anchored by the two senior captains, Sheree Szumylo and Elizabeth Munger, both from Holden. Elizabeth leads the team in kills with 54 and service aces, with 24. Sheree is second on the team with 39 kills. Caitlin Hendrickson, a junior from Sterling has taken over the setting responsibilities and has a 93% serve percentage.

Do you have your sights set on the playoffs? What is your outlook for the rest of the season?
Right now, we’re 10-3 and this qualifies us for the state tournament. We had a big win last week against Marlboro. It’s the first time this program has ever beaten Marlboro. Our main goal is to fine tune our offense and defense and make sure that we’re playing our best volleyball when the tournament starts.

How has your team overall performed this year?
They’ve performed really well over the past couple of weeks. The aforementioned Marlboro win was a milestone. Now we’re trying to prepare for the next level of competition in the state tournament.

What are your team’s fine points, and what are some aspects that need to be improved?
We’ve recently installed a new offense and added another defense so we need to master those to have success in the tournament. If the team continues to expend the effort like they have, everything else will fall into place.
 

Coach Al Morel has coached volleyball at UMass-Amherst, where he received the "Coach of the Year" award in 1981, and at Holy Cross, where he was selected Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference "Coach of the Year" three times. During his time at UMass he was a charter member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. His impressive record as a player and coach in the Bay State Games includes 18 medals in 20 years. As well as his current job as coach at Wachusett, Coach Morel will coach volleyball at St. John’s in the spring.