Agosti is Marian volleyball’s voice of reason

POTTSVILLE — Marian was up and down on Tuesday during the District 11 1A championship against Nativity.

After a few struggles early, the Fillies finished the fourth set with strength and confidence to even up the match.

The fifth set would not only determine a district champion, but also who would get a crack at the PIAA state playoffs.

Someone needed to make sure Marian was prepared to come out with a bang for the final 15 points.

It wasn’t coach John “Doc” Fallabel, or Schuylkill League star Jasmine Mooney.

It was Gianna Agosti.

The senior setter seized control of the team huddle between the brief intermission prior to set No. 5. She yelled. She screamed. And Agosti got her message across to her teammates that they would not be defeated.

“I just knew that this could be our last game,” Agosti said of her speech in the huddle. “I just made sure to let it all out and just made everyone be happy and play together and have fun, because that’s what volleyball is all about.”

It turns out, Agosti was right.

The Fillies rallied around Agosti and were on fire to begin the final sequence. In fact, Marian stormed out to a commanding 10-1 lead.

This was not the same Fillies team that trailed 2-1 and had its back against the wall, facing elimination multiple times, and were a little lethargic at times in the sets that they lost.

But not this group in the fifth set. Not Agosti’s group. This time, it felt different.

“I’m just excited, because I knew my team could do it,” said Agosti. “I’m just so happy that we pulled it out, because I don’t think anyone believed that we were going to win.”

Finally, when things were going good they were going good.

Agosti had the ball in her hands during the Fillies’ biggest run of the tiebreaker and ripped off eight service points to help Marian stay ahead for good. On Marian’s 11th point, Agosti’s serve hit the top of the net and trickled over to hit the gymnasium floor for the score.

“It’s amazing, but it was really all my team,” said Agosti. “I didn’t just get aces or lucky serves. The ball came back over and my team got the points, I just kept getting it over. I don’t’ have nerves. I always know that my team can pull together and play like we know how to. We just know how to play together.”

As quick as Agosti was to credit her teammates, she seems to be the unsung hero on the volleyball court for the Fillies. Whether it was her 50 assists, 30 digs, or mental boost to her teammates, Agosti surely did everything during Marian’s victory on Tuesday night at Martz Hall. She was just what the “doctor” ordered.

“I’ll never have another setter like her,” said Fallabel. “The girl is the most athletic, durable, fun kid to work with. She just hates to lose. She was gong to drag it out of them (her teammates) if she had to drag it out of them.”