Ms. 1000: D-R's Corinne Braga leaves her mark on volleyball program
SEEKONK— When Corinne Braga first tried out for the Dighton-Rehoboth volleyball team as a freshman, coach Jon Pacheco already had a vision for her.
"I looked at her and said ‘you’re the libero because your sister (2019 D-R graduate Andria Braga) was the libero,'" Pacheco said with a laugh.
Three years later, Braga says she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
"I thank him every day because I don’t know what I’d do without it," Braga said.
The senior libero has gone on to be one of the best to ever play the position for the Falcons. She's also the first player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs, making the milestone with a 22 dig performance against West Bridgewater on Oct. 11.
"It means a lot," Braga said of the achievement. "I hope it pushes people younger than me to want to achieve something like that."
"Corinne's an amazing kid," Pacheco said. "She’s had 300-plus digs now three years in a row to get well over 1,000. You don’t find that a lot."
Braga officially reached 300 digs for the 2023 season Tuesday, tallying 22 as she helped lead D-R to a 3-1 (25-16, 16-25, 27-25 and 25-16) win over rivals Seekonk. With the win, the senior Falcons wrap up their high school volleyball careers never losing to the Warriors.
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"It means a lot, especially after the season we’ve had with a lot of downs, this up feels good," Braga said.
Things haven't gone exactly to plan this fall for D-R, which improved to 4-15 overall and 1-12 in the South Coast Conference. After making it to the Division 3 Round of 16 last year, the Falcons' hopes of another run were seemingly dashed by a series of injuries, most notably a season-ending leg injury to 2022 Taunton Daily Gazette Volleyball Player of the Year Lucy Latour just five matches into the season.
After losing 12 straight sets, D-R scored a 3-2 win over New Bedford on Oct. 5, following it up with a 3-1 win over Durfee and a narrow 3-2 loss to West Bridgewater.
"We’ve grown a lot since the injury to (Latour)," Pacheco said. "We’re playing better as a team and we’re adjusting."
Braga has been key in that growth, as well as senior outside hitter Hannah Cronin, who had 17 kills against Seekonk, senior setter Mary-Kate Mello, senior middle hitter Sofia Fernandez and junior outside hitter Skye Harrison.
Also aiding in that is the sisterhood the players have developed with each other, a bond which Braga holds dearly.
"I’ve made some of my best friends on this team," Braga said. "The coaches are like my biggest role models and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. They mean the most to me."
With the Falcons season set to come to a close Wednesday at Wareham, putting a close to the high school volleyball careers of Braga and her seven fellow seniors, the senior libero said she hopes they can carry their momentum to end things on a high note.
With Cronin having 100 kills on the season in reach, Pacheco is hoping for one more milestone before things wrap up.
"(There's) a lot of nice things going on, so we’ll see what we can do Wednesday night," Pacheco said.
Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: D-R volleyball's Corinne Braga has left her mark on the program
