Sept.
20, 2006
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| Pascack Valley's All-State senior setter Marissa DeMais put down three consecutive kills in the second game to spark the Indians' comeback. | |
HILLSDALE – Throughout her first three years of high school, Pascack Valley’s Marissa DeMais was always surrounded talented, experienced players. While the talent around her is still there, the experience is not.
This year, DeMais is flanked by five new starters who must learn to deal with adversity on the varsity level in a big match. Will the new faces be able to handle pressure situations?
The answer to that question will more than likely decide how successful the season will be for the Indians.
Their first battle with adversity against a quality opponent came yesterday when Northern Valley/Old Tappan came into the Pascack Valley gymnasium and nearly ran the Indians right out of it.
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| Setter Sondra Snyder, Old Tappan's only senior, finished with 21 assists, eight digs, and six service points. |
Down a game and facing a four-point deficit midway through the second game, DeMais not only took the team on her back, but also found another go-to player in the process.
DeMais, an all-state senior setter, put down three consecutive kills to spark a rally and even the match, and classmate Justine Couvielos took control from there. She dominated the net in the third game, recording three blocks and three kills as Pascack Valley moved a leg up on the Golden Knights in the NBIL standings with a 13-25, 25-20, 25-19 victory.
“This is a match that we needed to show that we are still among the top teams around,” said Pascack Valley head coach Andrew Lewis. “We were really struggling through the first game-and-a-half and we couldn’t get into an offense. But Justine (Couvielos) and Alicia Crane both played their best games so far as varsity players, and they both came through for us in the middle at big points in the match.”
The match started off sloppy and was filled with errors on both sides. As a result, neither team was able to take control until the Golden Knights went to the simple approach of passing efficiently and keeping the ball in play. Old Tappan’s lone senior, Sondra Snyder, was all over the court and righted the ship for her teammates. The Golden Knights settled down and embarked on a 15-3 run to end the first game emphatically, 25-13.
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| Justine Couvielos (4) recorded a match high 4 blocks for Pascack Valley. |
“We were slow at first and I don’t really know why, but we couldn’t get going at all,” said DeMais. “After losing to (Northern Valley) Demarest, we were a little down and I think it carried over a bit into today. Old Tappan is always a tough team and we know they wanted to beat us in our gym. I think the way we got beat in the first game might have actually helped us. We’re young, but we have the talent to prove that we can hang with the best of the best. We just needed to show that in a big match against a top opponent.”
Pascack Valley looked like it was going to shake off the cobwebs early in the second game, but the combination of Snyder and junior Kayla Anders started to heat up for the Golden Knights. They used a 9-2 spurt to grab a 14-10 lead and move just 11 points away from a huge league win on the road.
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| Kayla Anders' play at the net helped Old Tappan get off to a quick start. |
The Indians were in dire need of some leadership and got it from their captain and maybe the county’s most vocal player, DeMais. Usually, she is running the offense from her setter position and trying to create for other teammates. But the 5-7 senior took matters into her own hands.
After a sideout, three straight kills by DeMais evened the score. Old Tappan began to tighten up in the passing game, which led to numerous opportunities for Couvielos up front. She put down four kills in as many attempts to help Pascack Valley overcome the deficit and send the match to a third and deciding game.
“I was getting great sets from Marissa (DeMais) and I had to start swinging away,” said Couvielos. “She is such a great setter that I just had to be in the right place and the ball would be there. The first game, I just didn’t feel comfortable and I couldn’t get into any rhythm. In the third game, I just had to step up and help out my teammates.”
Couvielos continued her effective play early in the third game with three consecutive blocks to give Pascack Valley an early lead. They were clinging to a two-point lead, when back-to-back-to-back kills by Alyssa Forget, DeMais, and Couvielos helped the Indians go on a 5-0 run to stretch the lead to seven points. It later grew to nine and it looked like the Indians were about to turn the lights out on their league rival.
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| PV junior Alicia Crane played well at the net to help the Indians erase the one-game deficit. |
But the Golden Knights refused to go down without a fight and played their best ball of the match.
Chanel Van Dyke and Michelle Picinic each stepped up with big kills from the outside, as the Golden Knights scored seven straight points to cut to 19-17 late in the match. After an attack error, DeMais got away with a borderline carry for a kill, which gave Pascack Valley some breathing room. Kristen Ruggieri closed out the match with a kill and the Indians held on for the win.
“This was a match that we definitely could have won and it’s disappointing to lose,” said Northern Valley/Old Tappan head coach Melissa Landeck. “But Pascack Valley is always a very well-coached team with Coach Lewis and they always compete until the very end. We played well at times; we just weren’t consistent enough with our attack. We needed to come out in the second and especially the third game with the same intensity we came out with for the first game. If you shoot yourself in the foot too many times against a team like a Pascack Valley, you are going to be in trouble.”
Pascack Valley (3-1) overcame a whopping 12 service errors to pull out the victory. DeMais was the catalyst for the Indians with 22 assists, six kills, six service points, and five digs. Couvielos had nine kills along with her match-high four blocks. Forget chipped in with eight digs and six kills.
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| Chanel Van Dyke finished with seven kills for Old Tappan. |
Snyder
was solid throughout for Northern Valley/Old Tappan (2-2). She finished with
21 assists, eight digs, and six service points. Junior libero Sarah Betancourt
recorded a match-high 10 digs, while Anders and Van Dyke added nine and seven
kills, respectively.
“We didn’t play our best and I don’t think (Old Tappan)
played their best either, we were just fortunate enough to find a way to win,”
added Demais. “We were able to pass to target pretty well in the second
and third games, which helped out offense get going. I think this win will
give us confidence that we can not only hang with the best of the best, but
that we can come together through adversity and beat those teams.”
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.
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