Fearless Falcons are soaring at 9-1
The motto on the back of the warm-up shirts of the Joel Barlow High School boys volleyball team is simple and direct. “Respect All. Fear None.” Well, the Falcons have been fearless so far this season. They are 9-1 overall after Thursday’s 3-2 home victory over Danbury and are the proud owners of a seven-match win streak.
Joel Barlow is certainly a boys volleyball program with pedigree. The Falcons were South-West Conference (SWC) champions in
2016 and ’17 before losing in the 2018 league tourney final to Newtown High.
They were also Class M runners-up in 2015, ’16 and
’18.
It appeared on paper that this might be the year opponents get even with Joel Barlow. The Falcons graduated seven seniors from
2018 and had just two seniors on the 2019 roster.
However, Joel Barlow has met nearly every challenge this season. Its lone loss
(3-0) was to Newtown on April 3.
“We’re in a good place,” Barlow senior co-captain Thomas Lucido said. “But we understand there is lots of room for improvement. Room for our young group to develop and grow.”
The work of Lucido and fellow senior co-captain Finn McCaffrey are key reasons for the Falcons’ success.
They are the two top hitters on the team. However, the pair’s biggest value is as leaders.
“Having great leadership is so important,” said Joel Barlow’s 10th-year coach Chris Lovelett. “Finn and Thomas are great examples for our younger kids. And they step up in big moments in every match.”
The 6-foot-2 McCaffrey, who has signed to play college volleyball at Endicott College in Massachusetts in the fall, has the versatility and athleticism to strike kills from both the front and back rows.
“Finn is talented and athletic. He is also teaching and talking to everyone in every single game,” Lovelett said. “He’s another coach on the court. His ability to attack sets from the back row allows us to create many in-system plays.”
Despite its overall youth (one freshman, five sophomores, four juniors), Barlow plays a fundamentally sound game with efficient serving.
To their credit, the Falcons use the past five years of success as motivation, as opposed to a burden to live up to.
“There is SWC and state tournament history to live up to,” McCaffrey said. “We don’t view it as pressure. It’s a standard to live up to and make us better.”
The seeds for Joel Barlow’s promising start in 2019 were sown in the winter.
Most of the Falcons’ varsity roster were playing at the Mizuno East Volleyball Club. Mizuno East has two U18 squads, two U17 teams, two U16 rosters and one U15 group.
Lovelett is a coach and co-director. A number of current FCIAC boys volleyball players are also part of those teams.
“Playing on the winter club volleyball teams put us all on the same page, chemistry-wise,” McCaffrey said. “The work there was also helpful in everybody accepting their roles here.”
“The winter club volleyball helped us all develop,” Thomas Lucido said. “We were able to come together quickly. It’s a big reason for our fast start.”
What’s left is to see what the last nine regular-season matches and the postseason bring for the Falcons.
“Competition is the second piece of the puzzle,” Lovelett said. “I want the kids to enjoy the game and enjoy themselves amid the high expectations.”