Sunday, November 11, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Janet Snell finished with a triple-double (19 kills, 12 digs, and 11 service points) to lead Bogota to its first state title since 1987.

WAYNE – The years 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2005. Each of those represented a successful season for the Bogota girls volleyball program, which has cemented itself as one of the most consistently successful programs in the state over the past 15 years.

Unfortunately, all of those seasons ended in disappointment for the Bucs as each ended with a loss in the Group 1 state final. After losing game No. 1 on Saturday against an experienced Midland Park team in the Group 1 final, the current Bucs squad refused to give into the notion that Bogota could not win the big one.

Led offensively by Janet Snell and defensively by Ashley Ramirez, the Bucs opened up big lead in the second and third games and refused to relinquish them. Freshman Taylor Woegens chipped in with two aces and a block in a crucial 7-0 spurt in the third game to help lift Bogota to its first Group 1 state crown since 1987 with a 22-25, 25-18, 25-13 victory at William Paterson University.

Senior Katie Moquete led all hitters with 21 kills in her final game for Midland Park.

“I can’t even put it into words, I really can’t. I am just so happy for my kids because they played hard all year, they earned this and they deserved this,” said and emotional Bogota head coach Brad DiRupo. “They put in the time and they got rewarded for it. So many times you do all of that stuff and you don’t get rewarded, but today they got rewarded and I am happy for them.”

After a sloppy start to the opening game with numerous service errors on both sides, both teams started to get going on the strength of their passing games. Bogota looked to Snell and she delivered with six first-game kills.

But the Panthers had an answer in Katie Moquete, who came up big down the stretch. She had three kills in a 6-3 spurt to end the first game as Midland Park moved one game away from victory. Moquete put down her 10th kill on the first point of the second game, however, that would be the last lead that the Panthers had the rest of the way.

From that point on, the Bucs dictated the match with solid defense, effective passing and setting. Ramirez made several diving digs that kept alive long rallies long enough for setter Allison Bal to find the right hitter to go to. More often than not, that option was Snell, who is an offensive weapon from all over the court. Back-to-back kills by Snell gave Bogota 15-8 lead en route to tying the match.

Allison Bal finished with 29 assists for Bogota, which will play Fair Lawn in the opening round of the Tournament of Champions.

“After we won the second game we knew that the state championship could be ours if we just stepped it up and played a little harder than the other team,” said Ramirez, who was on the floor in the state final in 2004 when the Bucs lost to North Arlington and in 2005, a loss to Secaucus. “It was crucial to get the lead in the third game because if we let them it would have been a brawl back and forth. We just had to keep pounding away.”

Despite being just a freshman, Woegens did not feel the pressure of playing in a deciding third game of a state championship match. With the Lady Bucs holding a slim 4-3 lead in the third game, she served aggressively and turned the match in Bogota’s favor for good. She had consecutive aces and Snell followed with a kill to push the lead up to 10-3.

With the defense focusing on slowing down Snell, the Bucs needed another outside hitter to step up. Chelsea Buttner filled that role and had one of her best games of the season. She had seven kills in the third game, including three straight to end the match as the Bucs finally got the monkey off of their backs.

“We did not want this to be the last game of our season. We wanted to end on a good note. We’ve worked so hard, we started in April and we all play year round to be ready for matches like this,” said Buttner. “None of us wanted to lose.”

Kate Berninger finished with 29 assists and 11 digs for Midland Park, which closed the season with a 28-3 record.

Snell finished with a triple-double for Bogota (26-3) with 19 kills, 12 digs, and 11 service points. Buttner played one of her best matches of the season with 13 kills and eight digs. Bal led the team in assists with 29 and Ramirez in digs with 13.

Kate Berninger finished with 29 assists and 11 digs for Midland Park (28-3). Moquete led all players with 21 kills, along with 10 digs. Carla Stachurski and Cory Fallon tied for the team lead with 12 digs.

It was an unfortunate, yet eerily familiar end to the season for the Panthers. Last year, they started off 19-0 before they lost to Secaucus in the regular season and then in the Group 1 final. This year, Midland Park also started off 19-0 before losing to Bogota in the regular season and then again in Saturday’s state final.

Bogota will now play in its first-ever Tournament of Champions as the No. 5 seed. They will take on another Bergen County for in upstart Fair Lawn, the Group 3 champion and the No. 4 seed, in a first-round game with the winner getting top-seeded Immaculate Heart Academy. The first-round match will be played at Hackensack High School on Tuesday with a 6:00 start time.

After so many trips and so many heartbreaking losses, this group of Bogota players can finally walk out of the William Paterson University gymnasium with their heads high knowing that had accomplished something special.

“It’s just a great feeling. Who would have thought that Bogota volleyball would end up being a state champ? And we are not done yet,” said Snell. “We worked so hard for it, we felt like we deserved to get it and all of us were going to keep fighting until we did.”

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