Lady Bulldogs looking for an NFL title

2017 is a special year for head coach Megan Crawford and the Kenmore East Girls Volleyball team.

This year Crawford has a group of seniors that she has known well since they were freshman when she coached them at the JV level.

“I’ve been working with them for the past four years and I’m ready to see what they have to offer this season,” Crawford said. “They’ve all developed tremendously.”

Among these seniors are Serena Sordetto, Jordan McKenna and Kayla Doctor, who are expected bring a lot to the table and be leaders for the Lady Bulldogs.

McKenna and Doctor are middle hitters who are two of five girls on the roster that play travel volleyball.

Crawford is expecting the tandem to be standouts this season.

“They’re going to be the top two middles in the NFL,” Crawford said. “They bring lot of heat. I’m looking forward to it.”

Sordetto is an outside hitter with good defensive skills. The senior is a strong all-around athlete for Ken East.

After going .500 in 2015, the Lady Bulldogs made tremendous strides last season as they went 9-7 and made it to the Class A quarterfinals, falling to top seed Grand Island in three close sets.

Crawford thought it was a breakthrough year for her team.

“Last season I finally started to see what the Kenmore East Girls volleyball program had to offer,” Crawford said. “In the past we had the potential, but we didn’t have the competitive edge. That really came into light last year.”

The success of last year has built excitement for the Lady Bulldogs who seem to already be in game shape.

“Our energy in practice has been really good,” Sordetto said. “We’re meshing together. As a team, we pump each other up every practice. That should continue right into games.”

Kenmore East is also excited about their retuning underclassman.

Junior Jordan Taylor comes back after playing on the varsity as a sophomore. Taylor is natural a setter, but last year filled in the need at outside hitter. This year the junior will be at setter.

“Her sets are amazing,” Crawford said. “She’s a very well-rounded player.”

Senior Brooke O’Connor will have more of a leading role this year as she takes over for the graduated Alyssa Ghosen at right outside hitter.

The Lady Bulldogs also lose strong leadership in Kendall Mills to graduation.

This year the Niagara Frontier League will split into two divisions in soccer, basketball, volleyball (both boys and girls), baseball and softball. The Niagara division features large schools Kenmore West, Lockport, Niagara Falls, Niagara-Wheatfield, and North Tonawanda. The Frontier division will consist of the small schools CSAT, Grand Island, Kenmore East and Lewiston-Porter.

Under the new format, each team will have a home and home with their division opponents and one game against a foe from the opposite division. There will be a cross-over game at the end of the regular season between like seeds and the divisional winners will face off to determine a league champion.

The changes should benefit large schools and small school alike in terms of power points for the playoffs. Larger schools will have more opportunities to get more points for a win and smaller schools should have an easier time getting wins.

The Lady Bulldogs believe that with the new alinement, that they can win the league and put themselves in a strong position once playoff time rolls around.

“We have the potential to win the whole NFL,” Crawford said. “Every day we look at that (Ken-East girls’ volleyball) banner and we’re ready to put our names on it.”