Surging Burncoat girls' volleyball team does its part for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month was recognized fully last week when the Burncoat girls’ volleyball team hosted Douglas, with the contributions and snack bar proceeds donated to cancer research.
“I’ve lost friends to breast cancer, so it’s very personal, so we go all out in trying to fight the disease,” said Burncoat coach Phil Malette, who praised the organizational work of senior captain Kaylee Kalagher and senior manager Jolie Etwaroo, who made the iron-on numbers and names for the pink game jerseys worn by the players and coaches.
The Patriots, with captains Kalagher and junior Jada Haney, are in the midst of another successful season with a 9-4 record (5-2 Inter-High), second behind unbeaten Doherty.
Praising his captains, Malette said, “Kaylee has been on the varsity for four seasons and has worked her way up as a setter to become captain, and Jada played on my Dragons’ club team, and I’m very happy that she’s now with us on the high school team.”
“We have a good season going, much better than I really expected. I would love for us to keep winning in the playoffs and eventually be able to put up a championship banner on the wall here,” said Kalagher, who plans on studying criminal justice in college. “That’s never happened for a girls’ volleyball team here.”
Haney, an outside hitter who loves English and writing, was drawn to Burncoat because of its Arts Magnet program. “I definitely believe we are all working together as a team and that’s so important,” she said.
Besides the captains, the Patriots are led by other talented players including senior outside hitters Malyka Brown, Shaynaya Rodriguez and Mia Haynes, senior libero Alex Molina and freshman backrow specialist Katye Cardoso.
Contact Jay Gearan at sports@telegram.com.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Surging Burncoat girls' volleyball team does its part for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
