Erin Kelley named MVP, Ceccherini Coach of the Year

The Chelsea High volleyball team received all of the major accolades in the Small Division of the Commonwealth Athletic Conference at Monday’s coaches meeting.

Lady Red Devils senior captain Erin Kelley was named to the All Star team and was selected as the Small Division MVP. Her coach, Lisa Ceccherini, was honored by her colleagues as the Coach of the Year.

“This is a great and well deserved honor for Erin,” said Ceccherini, who is in her 15th season at the helm of the CHS volleyball program. “As for me, I’m very humbled that my fellow coaches chose to give me this honor.”

In addition, two Lady Red Devils, juniors Shuly Sejour and Karolyn Moni, were selected to join Kelley on the Small Division all star squad.

Chelsea enjoyed a good week, winning a key match against Small Division rival North Shore Tech, 30-28, 25-15, and 25-14. The win improves Ceccherini’s team to 6-1 in the Small Division and leaves them in a dead heat with Fellowship of Christian Academy for first place in the division.

“For some reason we started slowly against North Shore,” said Ceccherini of the lengthy first set. “But during the two minute break between sets, we figured out what we had to do and did much better the rest of the way.”

The Lady Red Devils now face a must win situation against their perennial archrival, Northeast Regional Vocational School, on the local gym floor today (Thursday).

“We need to beat Northeast if we want to ensure that we keep pace with Fellowship, which also has one match left,” said Ceccherini. “Even though we beat Northeast the first time we met them, we know we’ll have a battle on our hands, as we always do when we face them. We’re expecting a fun, but hard fought match.”

The contest will mark the last home match for Capt. Kelley as well as fellow seniors Joycelen Perez and Solmaira Acevedo. “Joycelen and Solmaira have been huge additions to our team,” said Ceccherini of the pair, both of whom came out for the volleyball team for the first time this season. “They have been totally selfless and supportive of their teammates. I could not have asked for two better players on our team.”

If both Chelsea and Fellowship end up tied with 7-1 records and share the CAC Small Division title, it is not clear whether there is a some tiebreaker (their lone losses were to each other) or whether both will go to the state tourney.

After the Northeast encounter, Chelsea will have one regular season match left with CAC Large School foe Whittier, which will be a makeup of a contest that was postponed Tuesday.

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