Following a season in which it advanced to the championship match of the FAA Volleyball Tournament, then qualified for the NEPSAC Class A Tournament, Sacred Heart Greenwich has set the bar high for its 2023 campaign.

“Sacred Heart is going to go for everything this year,” Sacred Heart head coach Beth Wilson-Jordan said. “We want to make it back to the FAA finals and play in the NEPSAC Tournament and I’m confident that we can do that.”

Captaining the Tigers are seniors Emilia Bernal and Kaitlin Robinson, both of whom have played pivotal roles on the team in previous seasons.

“We have set big goals for ourselves,” Bernal said. “We want to make it back to the FAA championship. The goals of the team are to also grow a lot to hold each other accountable.”

Bernal, an outside hitter/libero, is in her varsity season. She joined the varsity squad as an eighth-grader and has been one of the Tigers’ key competitors since. After graduating from SHG in the spring, Bernal will continue her volleyball career at the Division I level at Boston College.

Robinson, a 6-foot-2 middle hitter, has excelled on volleyball court for several seasons. A three-sport athlete, Robinson also plays basketball and lacrosse at Sacred Heart and will take her Division I lacrosse skills to Duke University.

“They are great Division I athletes,” Wilson-Jordan said of her senior captains. “They are totally committed and a great example for everyone else. I couldn’t have asked for better captains.”

Sacred Heart has a record of 3-1 to start its 2023 season. They were defeated by an powerful Loomis Chaffee team, 3-1, in the season-opener, then rebounded to top Austin Prep, Hamden Hall Country Day School and Choate Rosemary Hall. The Tigers registered 3-0 victories against all three opponents, the last two coming Tuesday and today.

“I’m really proud of this team, we’ve had a lot of great matches that are preparing us for the FAA,” said Bernal, who was also a captain during the 2022-2023 season with her older sister, Martina. “I’m really proud of the growth that I’ve seen from August until now and I’m excited about what this season has to offer.”

In host Sacred Heart’s FAA-opener against Hamden Hall Country Day School on Monday, the home team won the match by set scores of 25-20, 25-12, 25-17. Sophomore outside hitter Brianna Timlin’s ace gave the Tigers a 7-4 lead in the first set, then junior Evangelyn Forte registered a kill, making it 8-4. A block by Robinson at the net, gave SHG a five-point advantage.

“We’ve been playing really well,” Robinson said. “It’s fun to see the progress our team has made and see everyone improving. We started out a little bit slow, but we had to up the intensity and we showed them what Sacred Heart volleyball is like. We got it in the second and third sets.”

Robinson welcomes the challenge and excitement that comes with playing three varsity sports during the scholastic school year.

“It’s awesome at Sacred Heart,” Robinson said. “They make a great environment for athletes and we’re all able to have a great day at school and come to practice ready to work. I think it is an awesome opportunity to play three sports at Sacred Heart.”

As for playing volleyball?

“I really love the sport,” she said. “My team is so fun and I’m really excited for another year.”

Forte closed out the opening game versus Hamden Hall with an ace. Junior outside hitter/libero Grace Gapen, who is coming off an impressive sophomore season, helped SHG start strong in the second set against the Hornets with several service points, including a pair of aces, putting Hamden Hall in a 10-1 hole.

Junior Jane Murphy returns as a middle hitter, Ana Pizzimbono, who played varsity volleyball as an eighth-grader a season ago, is an outside hitter/libero and junior Victoria Mordaunt, also a swimmer and water polo athlete, is a middle hitter/opposite.

Senior Emerson Eckert (outside hitter/opposite), junior Jadamarie Henry (middle hitter/opposite), senior Cait Haggerty (outside/opposite), freshman Chloe Machen (defensive specialist, libero), sophomore Eugenia Piriz (setter/defensive specialist) and Forte (setter) are ready to continue to make key contributions to the Tigers.

“I think we have great energy on the court,” Bernal noted. “We all love each other so much and we come into each practice holding each other accountable and we are setting goals for the season.”

Last season saw Sacred Heart register a record of 17-7, while making it to the FAA Tournament final and the NEPSAC Tournament quarterfinals. In the FAA Tournament final, the Tigers were edged by top-seeded, undefeated rival King School, 3-2. Sacred Heart won the first two sets, 26-24, 25-16, then King took the next three, 25-16, 25-17, 16-4 to capture the FAA championship.

“It was so awesome,” Robinson said of the Tigers’ league championship match against King. “The atmosphere was incredible. We are hoping to get back there and win the title. To accomplish that, it’s going to take a lot of hard work every day, which is what we are doing.”

Robinson is enjoying her role as one of the team’s captains.

“It has been an honor to lead these girls, especially with the improvements we can make,” Robinson said. “It will be really fun at the end of the season to see what we can do.”

Bernal reflected on the 2022 season and what can be ahead for the Tigers this fall.

“That was a great season, I think we had a little bit of moving pieces last season, where there were some unexpected injuries,” she said. “But I’m proud of how we came together in those hard moments and competed hard. That’s what it’s all about. We have some new faces and a lot of seniors we have five seniors. We’re super excited about the talent that we have and we are executing our game plan. We have amazing coaches and we have some great competition coming up.”

Sacred Heart hosts Deerfield Academy and Buckingham Browne & Nichols on Saturday. The matches begin at 12 p.m.

“This year we have a lot of options and everybody is healthy,” Wilson-Jordan noted. “I think with everyone healthy we can definitely be there in the FAA finals and make it to the NEPSAC Tournament.”