Southeast hopes Garofalo has healthier 2008 season
Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2008
When the volleyball went over the net, Amanda Garofalo gave chase before the ball could smack Manatee High's shiny, tan court. As Garofalo bolted for the ball - with her head tilted toward the lights in the ceiling - she stepped on a teammate's foot and badly rolled her right ankle.
"When I was sitting in the trainer's room, I was thinking, 'This can't be happening now,' " said Garofalo, a 6-foot-tall senior middle blocker for Southeast.
It was happening.
It was September 2007, and the Seminoles volleyball team was off to a 9-0 start. Garofalo and the Noles had snatched the first game from the powerful Hurricanes and were leading the second game when she went down and didn't return. Southeast's unblemished record was no more.
As a matter of fact, she didn't return until the end of the regular season. The Noles finished the 2007 campaign 21-7 but missed the playoffs after placing third in Class 5A-District 12 behind perennial power Venice and archrival Manatee.
It was a low point for Garofalo.
"That was probably the worst injury I've ever had," Garofalo said. "It put me out for a month, and that's like half of our season. It was really tough, not only physically, but emotionally for me. I felt in a way that I was letting down the team by getting injured. I couldn't afford to get hurt against Manatee in one of the biggest games of the year. When I came back, I wasn't as strong as I was before. Adjusting to that was a big challenge for me."
During the offseason, Garofalo rehabbed her ankle and reclaimed her strength by playing club ball, and this season, her presence is being felt again.
Garofalo said since last year, her hitting has gotten better, and she is "trying to read more of the balls, the setter, the server."
"She picks things up and adjusts very, very well," said Southeast coach Carmine Garofalo, Amanda's father. "She uses a lot of common sense. We keep things pretty simple. My philosophy is simple, straight-forward volleyball, and she's somehow picked that up."
Garofalo has led the Noles to a 10-3 record with 114 kills and only 34 errors. Southeast returned most of last year's squad, but having the court leader back at full strength is always a plus.
"Aside from being one of the best hitters that we have on the team, she gets everyone pumped up," Noles setter Alyssa Hernandez said. "She definitely leads us and talks to us on the court. It's very important because we all would be kind of like scrambled out there if we didn't have her to look up to - and it definitely has put us on the right path."
This season in 5A-12, Venice is dominant again, while Manatee has its twin-tower duo of Courtney McDonald and Taylor Mealy patrolling the net, and Southeast counters with its own combination of net dwellers in Garofalo and Katie DiGirolamo.
The Noles aim to be competitive the entire season.
Earlier this season, the Noles took Manatee to five games before losing, and there's always a positive in a defeat.
"We are doing really well, we took Manatee 28-30, and that's never been done before for us," Garofalo said. "The girls are working really hard, and I think we have a good chance this year at finishing really well in district."
Yet coach Garofalo wonders if last season would have been different if Amanda could've stayed healthy.
"When you are missing a 6-foot middle blocker with the experience Amanda has," he said, "who's got the height, who's got the understanding that Amanda has, and is your primary serve receiver, it's going to effect - no doubt - the team. Although the team did very, very well, how much better could we have done if we hadn't lost her?"
