Riley Sousa returns on top of her setting, serving game as captain her senior year. (Darien Times/Steven Buono photo)
Darien girls volleyball comes back strong with two motivated, experienced senior captains in Riley Sousa and Kelly Kosnik.
But the Wave loses five to graduation, most of them with large sneakers to fill, while this year’s crop sees many hit the floor as first-time regular starters.
Seniors include Kathleen Burke, Lauren Pryor, Brittany Osborn, Taylor Cockerill (5-10) and Callan Clasby.
Juniors are Mckenna Stevenson, Nicole Schmidt, sophomores Celia Martzolf, Claire Naughton (5-10) and Keli Reyes.
And joining as a freshman is Isabelle Taylor.
Defending league champ Laurie LaRusso coached Darien went 23-1 last season, only losing to Southington 3-1 in the state semis.
Last season Sousa, 5-foot-8, had 177 assists, 95 digs and 53 kills.
Kosnik, the same size as Sousa, made 119 kills, serves 32 aces and had 49 digs. She averaged 2.1 kills per game.
Osborn had 67 kills, 47 aces, 86 digs last season.
Darien begins the season hosting Trumbull at 4 p.m. Sept. 12.
