Sunday,
November 17, 2013
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Natalie Alechko slammed down the final point of Northern Valley/Old Tappan's miraculous comeback in the Group 3 state final. |
WAYNE – Earlier this season when Northern Valley/Demarest rallied from a 24-18 deficit in the first set to win a marathon en route to a two-game sweep over archrival Northern Valley/Old Tappan, Old Tappan head coach Melissa Landeck actually saw it as a positive for two reasons. It was a lesson learned that no lead is ever safe. On the flip side, it was a first-hand example to her players of why you fight for every point because anything can happen and the momentum of a match can change in the blink of an eye.
Normally facing five match points in a state final against a team as talented and as hungry as Northern Valley/Demarest is an insurmountable situation even if the Golden Knights never wavered in their confidence and never stopped believing that they could win. However, believing you can win and actually doing it against one of the state’s best teams are two different tasks altogether.
Down 24-19 in the third game, Old Tappan was all but delaying a certain fate. What happened next will go down as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the state volleyball tournament as the Golden Knights simply refused to lose.
Their comeback happened one point at a time because that was the only option. Led by Brittany Barry, they fought off five consecutive match points and then a sixth before Natalie Alechko put down a kill to cap a 9-2 run and complete the monster comeback as top-seeded Northern Valley/Old Tappan won the Group 3 state title with an epic 16-25, 25-21, 28-26 triumph on Saturday at William Paterson University in Wayne.
“This is crazy, it’s the most amazing feeling I’ve ever felt and the best match I could ever imagine playing in,” said Alechko.
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Hailey Riede (2) was a force at the net as Demarest raced to a first set win. |
Behind the play of Hailey Riede and Emily Abromovici at the net, Demarest took control early and opened the first game with a 10-3 run. Old Tappan sliced the lead down to one and later to three, only to derail themselves with service errors as the Norsewomen pulled away late to grab a one-game lead.
Midway through the second game, the Golden Knights started to hit their stride with setter Kelly Brogan using all of her offensive weapons. Four different players had kills, including a pair from Hayley Miller, in an 11-2 run that put them in the lead as they evened the match at one game apiece.
“I think going on a run on the second game gave us the momentum we needed just to get to a third game,” said Miller. “Before the season, we didn’t even expect to get this far, but we didn’t want to get all the way here and then lose by playing scared. We had to fight for every point and play every one like it was our last. It was big to that to get going in the second game, but it was even bigger at the end when we needed to play like that.”
Old Tappan entered the third game with the momentum, but the Norsewomen seized it back with Brooke Runge running the offense smoothly. What Brogan did in the second game, Runge was doing in the third by spreading the ball around to keep the Golden Knights’ defense off-balance. Demarest grabbed a slight lead midway through the deciding game and gradually stretched it out with the Golden Knights running out of time and running out of chances.
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Old Tappan setter Danielle Brogan diversified her targets in the final two games. |
Before the Golden Knights knew what hit them, they were down to their final point. An entire season of working toward one goal was going down the drain in what seemed to be a flash. Landeck never stopped believing in her players and the message she sent to them both before and throughout the match resonated with them.
“In the situation we were in, the only thing we could do was worry about the point that we were about to play,” said Landeck. “Our goal was to fight for that one point before we worry about the next point. We weren’t going to make up the deficit in one rally. It was one serve, one pass, one set and one swing at a time.”
Old Tappan needed a spark from anyone just to get the ball rolling. Barry provided that and then some with her play at the net. On the next two points, Barry ended a long rally with a kill and followed that with a block. She then stuffed another swing at the net to knot the score at 24.
A service error gave Demarest another match point, but Alechko answered with a kill. Finally with a lead and a chance to close out the match, Brogan pushed ball out wide and Alechko slammed it down to send the Old Tappan players and coaches pouring onto the floor in celebration.
“I told Kelly ‘I want this one.’ I was getting shut down the whole game and I really wanted that last one,” said Alechko about the final point. “They have great blockers. I wasn’t nervous when we were fighting our way back, but I got some nerves when we took the lead. Kelly gave me a great set and I took a big swing.”
Miller led all players with 12 kills for Northern Valley/Old Tappan (22-3). Brogan finished with 16 assists, while Barry and Alechko had 10 and 7 kills, respectively.
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Brooke Runge finished with 21 assists for Demarest, which finished with a record of 25-4. |
Runge had a match-high 21 assists for Northern Valley/Demarest (25-4). Abromovici led the Norsewomen with 10 kills and three blocks.
After having their season pushed to the brink of extinction, Old Tappan now moves into the Tournament of Champions as the No. 2 seed. It will face off against Group 4 state champ North Hunterdon, who won a three-set thriller of their own, 25-23 in the third game, over Ridge, but the Golden Knights are far from looking ahead to their next opponent. They will take the rest of the weekend to bask in the glow of what will go down as one of, if not the, greatest endings in the history of the NJSIAA state girls’ volleyball tournament.
“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of girls as I am for this group and how they never gave up,” said an exhausted Landeck. “This was a typical Old Tappan/Demarest battle and a typical match for us this season. It would take us awhile to get going but then we found a groove. How we fought at the end showed the character we have.
“When we lost the big lead and got swept by Demarest, we were down but we took something from that loss and used it to become a better team in the long run. This is such a tough group mentally and our poise really showed today against a great Demarest team. We kept fighting every single point and we found our way at the end.”
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