LINWOOD — When we caught up with the Mainland Mustang girls volleyball team a month ago, they had won only three games, but that was still better than their 2025 performance.
Head coach Torie Rich said she wanted her team to at least hit .500. Past the middle of October, they are ever so close.
The players see different reasons for the turnaround from last season to this season and from the beginning of the season until now.
The Mainland Regional High School girls entered the Oct. 15 match against Seneca with a 9-10 record, having added six more wins against three losses since Sept. 24. They won four matches in a row before facing Seneca, which they hoped would be win No. 10.
It was close, but not enough.
The Mustangs were neck and neck with Seneca in the first game, tying repeatedly up to a 20-20 score before losing the first set 25-21. The second set started much worse, but showed the team’s determination.
Mainland was down 11-2 and then by 10 points a few times until it reached 20-12. A sustained effort brought the team within 4 points, 22-18, before Seneca closed it out.
That put the Mustang record at 9-11 with three more to go before the regular season ends, unless Rich can find an extra match or two before sectionals.
“I think our whole attitude changed after that Egg Harbor Township win. It was a big upset and it was like a really good thing for us, just for our girls and the morale on the team,” Rich said about the Oct. 7 competition that started the four-match win streak.
“We’re kind of a mix of all different grades here and it just took a little bit for us to connect, but the second half of the season, I think we’re making a playoff run. We didn’t make the Cape-Atlantic League tournament, but we’re still in the hunt for a playoff spot,” Rich said.
She noted sophomore Giu Giu DeRichie, an outside hitter, “has been amazing,” as has fellow outside hitter junior Bridget Friel. She also cited setting Gia Miraglia, “who has been really key for us. She’s been playing through injuries. She has not missed a game. She might be taped up from head to toe, but she’s out there every game.”
Loving the game,
the turnaround
Senior Ella Barsotti is the starting libero who’s been on the team since freshman year. She likes the position because “I enjoy being super scrappy and trying to turn every ball into a play. A lot of it comes with the determination of trying to get every ball up.”
Barsotti attributes the improvement to the players getting used to each other after a major lineup change from last year.
“Once everyone got more comfortable with each other, I think we’ve started improving a lot,” she said.
Barsotti has enjoyed getting to know the underclassmen, seeing what their skills are and using them to the team’s advantage. She also likes how close the team has become.
Barsotti also is on the track and flag football teams, but volleyball is her favorite. She hopes to continue playing in college, but may have to settle for club volleyball because “I’m on the shorter side and even the libs in college are like 6 feet tall.”
The senior hopes to see a few more wins this season, “but also a lot more growth. The team in general needs to stop getting into our own heads as much when we get down a couple points and just keep working each game to get better.”
Middle blocker Rowynn Shevlin has been on the Mustang team all four years of high school, but has been playing volleyball for eight years.
“I think we’ve learned how each player works on the court and how to complement each other in our styles,” Shevlin said.
She is following in the footsteps of her sister, Zayda, who is two years old and played for the Mustangs. “She was the one who started and I just wanted to do the same thing,” she said.
Shevlin added that she didn’t choose the middle blocker position, but it fits with her height (6 feet), she’s used to it and she figures this is what she knows best. She has racked up a good number of kills and blocks so far this season and is hoping to add more of both, but mostly kills.
Her main hope right now is getting to playoffs. This is her only sport and she doesn’t expect to play in college, except perhaps on a club team.
Shevlin is happy with her team. “It feels like a big family. I think we all know how to have fun together and get along really well.”
A third senior, Miraglia said one of the player’s mothers, a former college player, helped the team improve, as did getting to know each other from playing last year to this year. That makes it more comfortable when making mistakes, an issue addressed by additional practice, including during last winter.
Miraglia hasn’t always been a setter on the team, but it is her favorite position. She loves it.
“I feel more helpful when I’m setting, if that makes sense. I think defense is great. I loved playing defense my freshman and sophomore year, but I feel like setting puts me in a better place where I am getting less in my head,” she said.
“You don’t want to let the ball drop … I’m always trying my best to get (the ball) up for someone. Honestly, that’s my favorite part,” Miraglia added. “I think part of the fun of it is really hustling to get there. It keeps you active and keeps you going, which is awesome. I don’t like playing and just standing around. I don’t want it to be easy.”
She enjoys the humor that’s all around on the team.
“We all just like to joke around and it definitely makes me feel better as a player and a friend. All of us are friends, out of volleyball too. We all enjoy talking to each other. It makes it nice and just a lot better at practice,” Miraglia said.
She is hoping to continue her volleyball career in college and has been contacting coaches. For now, she wants the team to “keep up our energy and stay in it. I think a lot of the time we tend to get in our heads, and that’s just the last thing I want for everyone.
“I try my best to keep everyone up and energetic and just keeping up with the other team. Even if we’re playing a lot better than them, you still want to keep going and doing your best and giving it your all because you never want to play down to someone’s level,” Miraglia said. She hopes the younger players are picking up that perspective.
DeRichie, a sophomore, said the team’s communication has helped them improve, along with additional preseason workouts.
“I think we’re just bonding a lot better than we did last season, which definitely helps on the court,” the outside hitter said. She likes the position, which is more than going for kills.
“You pass, you play defense, then you hit, which is a lot of fun to do,” she said.
DeRichie, younger sister to former Mustang volleyball player Bella DeRichie, likes her teammates. “I think they’re all super great players and they’re really nice people, and they’re just great to be around.”
Volleyball gave her a boost during her very personal battle this year off the court. Last January she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“I had 12 rounds of chemo and Aug. 21, I found out I was cancer free,” she said. “During the summer I was doing all the volleyball workouts I could, which is really nice. It helped me feel better just to be around my team during that time.”
When she was declared cancer free, “It was like the best day ever,” DeRichie said.
She hopes the team keeps up the hard work for the rest of the season and keeps up how the’ve been playing “because we’ve been playing really well recently.”
The Mustangs are away for their next three scheduled matches: 5:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at Absegami; 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at Timber Creek; and 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Winslow Township.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
