How To Serve Up—An Interview with Corinne Pita

Grade: Senior
Height: 5’8 and a half
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: Brown
DOB: 3/3/2002

Led by senior co-captain Corinne Pita and junior co-captain Anais Delfau, the Vixens are looking to win back-to-back championships. Pita has been on the team since her sophomore year, proving to be a key player on the team since. Last year, she was a key back with 14 aces off her serves and 14 service points. The Spectator sat down with Pita to learn more about this winning captain’s life on volleyball.

1. When did you start playing volleyball?

Freshman and sophomore years of high school, I started playing for Asphalt Green down the street.

2. What are your goals for this year?

Our main goal is to continue the chemistry we had last year as a team. Our team back when I was a freshman and sophomore used to be known for our lack of team chemistry. There was some drama on the team and girls didn’t really get along until last year when our two captains Ally Archer (19’) and Hanah Jun (19’) finally had a talk with the girls in the beginning of the season. They were like: “Hey, we aren’t going to have any drama. We are not going to have any cliques. We are going to be friends. We are going to like each other. We are going to work together. That mentality carried us all the way through to the championships, and my co-captain Anais (Delfau 21’) and I have decided that that’s what is most important to the team.

3. What do you want to improve within your own skills this year?

I definitely want to say my offense. I am known on the team for my skills on defense. Last year, I was a defense specialist, which meant I only played back row and I only passed, which is fine because I was very good at that position. This year, I’ve been given the responsibility of playing front row outside, which means that I need to improve my hitting and placing. It’s a bigger consideration of the court as I am also doing the other side, which is something I need to work on remembering and being aware of.

4. What is your respective position on the team, and what do you do there?

I am an outside hitter; I hit on the left side. What we do is we service the balls, as outside hitters are the best passers. We receive the ball and then once we are done, we either playback row, deep end and cover the really deep hits, or we go to front row and we hit on the left side, trying to score points.

5. Are there any challenges the team faces specifically?

Yes, we do. We lost five starters last year—all of them were seniors. They all played positions that were all really important to the team, so this year, it’s almost like we are starting from scratch. We only have three returning starters and that’s kinda a problem. Now, [the three of] us are used to working with certain girls, so we have to re-adapt and work with a new group of girls. Seeing them at practice, the new starters seem to be adapting well, but it’s something I’m concerned with to see what happens when we get to league games and how they will handle the pressure.

6. How do you deal with playing volleyball and your schoolwork? Do you have any tips?

For schoolwork and volleyball, everyone hears this, but it’s all about time management. If you have a free period, I’m sorry but you can’t hang out with your friends as much as you’d like to. When you are doing schoolwork, you need to be on top of it. You don’t want to be going home after a late practice—7:00 o’clock on a Tuesday when you have a test in two days, and you are all groggy and tired, and you haven’t done any work. If you have free periods or lunches, always do your homework before practice starts or at least, as much as you can. That’s your goal for success in both your grades and for your team.

7. Favorite memory or funniest memory?

For the first time in some five years, we won a tournament and we had half our starters. I played front-row there and Alina Luckey (‘19) was the other outside. There was one play I think in the semi-finals where we were passing the ball and hitting this really long rally. There was this one outside girl who swung and the ball hit her in the face but even though it hit her in the face, it popped straight up for a perfect pass and she was sitting on the floor all discombobulated. The pass was perfect, though, and on the next hit, we actually scored a point off her face pass.

8. Something you are going to miss?

I’m going to miss the camaraderie after I finally found a group of friends, a family. You know, I’m part of other clubs, but this is the highest commitment club I’m part of at Stuy[vesant]. For the first time, these group of girls came together to do something that they’ve never done before. We won City Championships and that came with the friendship and camaraderie that we are going to carry into this year. That’s something that I really value and all my teammates will tell you the same. We have become like family and we are one of the closest sports teams at Stuyvesant. It’s why we are so successful, and having to leave that, it’s definitely going to suck.

Choice drink: Shirley Temple
Favorite food: Mushrooms, in any shape or form
Motto to live by: Be yourself because everyone else is taken.
Fun fact: I got into Stuyvesant a week before school started because I came from out-of-state, so I took the test in August. Everything had already happened and so for me in one day, I got my ID, got my locker, got my homeroom, and got my classes. That was no fun.