By Kyle Coppola
Athlete of the Week Molly Beliveau First Academy-Leesburg
Molly Beliveau is our student athlete of the week. Beliveau is a senior and the leader of the First Academy-Leesburg Volleyball team. She is 5”9 and plays at the Outside Hitter position. Beliveau leads the Eagles in kill shots this season at 100+ so far. She hits her kill shots about 30% of the time and has taken 317 of them this season.
(Molly Beliveau leads the team in Kill Shots and is a team leader in aces. She is entering the final games of her terrific high school volleyball career.)
Molly Beliveau along with her sister Junior #1 Lilly Beliveau lead the team in aces. Currently Lilly is just a few aces ahead of her sister. While not as tall as Molly at 5”3 Lilly is the setter and leads the team in assists with 239 this year. She is the prime reason for Molly’s success at the front of the net.
Lilly also leads the team in digs. A dig is when a player dives down to keep the volleyball alive in the air. She has 116 digs and again leads the team in that category. Both sisters have been the reason that First Academy Leesburg has won a few games this season. While the Eagles record of 5-11 is not anything to write home about, the sheer will and determination of both sisters to never give up no matter what the score. They have both been a joy to watch this year.
From left to right (#11 Molly Beliveau, #19 Samoya Morris, #7 Madison Birdsall, #1 Lilly Beliveau, #3 Kyra Spivey, #9 Alexa Taylor, #15 EllaDrew Stinson, #5 Alivia Cichiela, #8 Lyric Verkaik, #14 Abby Jones)
I got to personally watch this team play a few weeks ago at The Villages and while they lost 3-0 and never challenged for a set point, the girls never gave up and encouraged one another after every point. It is no question that FA-Leesburg finds it tough to compete against some of these larger schools but we have to give these sisters credit for what they are doing this year. Even in defeat they show that playing the game is just a fun experience and we can learn a lot from them.
Also having an impact at the front of the net is #19 senior Samoya Morris who leads the team in blocks. #3 junior Kyra Spivey leads the team in serves received and plays at the Libero position. Lastly freshman Alexa Taylor #9 has been helping out plenty this year as well and will grow with the team in the future.
(Senior #19 Samoya Morris leads the team in blocks and has also had a great senior year.)
As far as the Beliveau sisters we have enjoyed watching them play together. As the season winds down and Molly plays her last game, we are reminded that sports are just a game. The joy of watching sisters play together is a gift. Both Molly and Lilly deserve the honor this week. While other players may have better statistics it’s the sheer joy and fun that these girls have on the court as to why we are highlighting them.
Hopefully the girls can go out with a win as they enter the final games of the year! Go Eagles!
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
