Thursday,
October 27, 2011
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Julia Topor caught fire late in Game 3 and pulled Bogota into the Bergen County semifinals with a 22-25, 25-21, 25-21 win over defending champion Old Tappan. |
OLD TAPPAN – For the better part of the past decade, Bogota has thrived on being the plucky underdog in the Bergen County Tournament that has used stellar defensive efforts to frustrate opponents and pull off a handful of upsets. Now that they have emerged as one of the favorites to win the tourney this year, the Lady Bucs got to experience the other side of that as defending Bergen County champion Northern Valley/Old Tappan forced them into a third game for the first time all season.
Facing a five-point deficit late in the third game, the Bucs needed someone to step up and win some points. Julia Topor did more than just give her team a spark; she took over the net down the stretch when her team needed her most. Topor had five kills in a closing 11-2 run, including four straight, to snap a 21-21 tie and put an abrupt end to an otherwise entertaining match as second-seeded Bogota survived and advanced with a 22-25, 25-21, 25-21 victory at Northern Valley/Old Tappan High School.
Old Tappan knew it had to slow down Bogota’s dynamic 1-2 punch of Topor and Carly O’Sullivan at the net. That task fell on the shoulder, or more specifically the forearms, of senior libero Kelsey Morgan. Without a single kill, Morgan almost single-handedly stole the match. Making one fantastic dig after another, Morgan kept her team in it by keeping the ball off the floor and extending points long enough for a teammate to get a kill or the opponent to make a mistake.
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Old Tappan senior libero Kelsey Morgan dug up just about everything that came her way, finishing with 34 digs. |
They hung around long enough to erase a deficit and take the opening game with southpaw Melissa Errico putting them ahead with a kill, then putting down another one to end the game and stun the Bucs.
“(Morgan) was awesome in that first game and they definitely frustrated us with them digging up so many balls,” said Bogota setter Rebecca Kelemen. “We had to bounce back and stop their momentum. I knew our defense would keep us around long enough until we could get it figured out. As a setter, you have to be mentally tough and adjust to all different situations because the offense runs through you. With the hitters we have, it gave us a lot of options. I just waited for someone to get the hot hand and then tried to get them the ball as often as I could.”
Bogota trailed in the second game before taking a lead midway through and then holding off a late charge. Morgan’s ace trimmed the lead to 21-20, but Topor and O’Sullivan put down back-to-back kills to quell the threat and send the match to a third game with a berth in the semifinals going to the winner. However, it was a unique position for the Lady Bucs, who had not been pushed to a third game all season and it showed early.
Morgan continued to thwart kill attempts and her teammates made the most of the extra chances with kills of their own. Huge digs by Morgan on consecutive points led to kills by Kayla Farrell and Katie Gattoni to give the Golden Knights the lead early in the third game. They led by as many as six, 13-7, after a block from Erricoand were just six points from victory, 19-14, when Topor came back in after a sideout.
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Bogota sophomore Carly O'Sullivan finished with 19 kills |
O’Sullivan put down a pair of kills, but the Golden Knights responded with a kill by Gattoni and a block from Errico for a 21-19 lead. The Bucs rallied to tie it at 21 when Topor caught fire.
The 6-foot junior put down a cross-court kill from the outside to give Bogota a lead and Kelemen continued to feed her down the stretch. Topor went down the line, followed that with a hard smash right down the middle and then put another one cross-court to end the 1-hour, 45-minute slugfest.
“I got the kills at the end, but I would have never gotten them without my teammates,” said Topor. “Our whole team never gives up no matter what and we had to stay focused in the third game. The thing this team is built on is believing in each other and trusting each other to handle the pressure of a big match. We weren’t going to win by hoping they made a mistake, all of us had to keep swinging away.”
There were career-highs all over the place for both teams with Kelemen leading the way for Bogota (27-1). The junior setter finished with a career-best 35 assists, 14 service points, and seven digs. O’Sullivan put down 19 kills and Topor added a career-high 17. Sophomore libero Jennifer Ramirez had 16 digs.
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Junior Katie Gattoni had a kill that gave Old Tappan a 20-19 lead late in the third game. |
Morgan was sensational from start to finish, notching a whopping 34 digs to go with 13 service points and two aces for Northern Valley/Old Tappan (13-6). Errico finished with 12 kills and three blocks, while Kim Morgan and Molly Brown added 18 and 13 assists, respectively.
“This is a hard loss to take right now, but credit goes to Bogota. They heated up at the perfect time,” said Old Tappan’s Kelsey Morgan, who will play at Division 3 Franklin and Marshall next year. “When we won the first game and when we had that lead in the third game, I really thought we were going to pull off the upset. But Bogota has an amazing team and two great hitters that came through in the big points. We came up short tonight, but we put it all out on the court and I think we showed just what kind of team we are.”
The win put Bogota moves back into the Bergen County semis where it will face No. 3 Northern Valley/Demarest. With Bergen County as wide open as it has been in the past 15 years, any of the four teams left can win the tournament and DiRupo knows how much it would mean to the program and to the town to bring home the title.
“We have two steps left to reach a huge goal of ours,” said DiRupo. “To go to three games for the first time all year, to be down in the third game and come back is great. To be a championship team, you have to band together and fight through the tough times. Old Tappan played as well defensively as any team we faced this year and we still found our way in the end. That’s the mark of a great team, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to be champions.”
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