Saturday,
November 1, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Hailey Riede (2) was solid at the net throughout and N/V Demarest shook off a first game loss to beat rival Old Tappan in three sets in the Bergen County semifinals. |
OLD TAPPAN – Because the teams are so evenly matched, because they know each other so well both on an off the court and because of the way the first two sets went on Friday in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament, it stood to reason that Game 3 would be a barn-burner. It figured to be a back and forth race to 25 with a trip to the championship match the reward for whichever of the sisters schools, Northern Valley/Demarest and Northern Valley/ Old Tappan, could nudge in front at the end.
But instead of a classic finish, the way it finished was classic Demarest as the Norsewomen, behind the serve of junior Brooke Runge, ran off the first five points of the deciding set and never looked back. After a sluggish start, Demarest finished with a flurry in a 20-25, 25-23, 25-15 win that puts it in the county final against defending champion IHA, the top-seed that held off No. 4 Paramus in straight sets (25-19, 29-27) in the semifinal nightcap.
“Earlier in the first two games my serve wasn't really on. I kept serving to the libero. So I just concentrated on serving one to one, getting it in and trying to put a little pressure on their return,” said Runge, who made the turning point of the third set the five straight points she earned on her serve to start it. “We have trouble starting sometimes. We are focused, but sometimes the energy is not there and it builds up as we go.”
Old Tappan scored three straight points, the last two on kills from the middle by Hailey Miller, to make it look like it might get back in the third set, but instead the two-point deficit at 5-3 was as close as the Golden Knights could get the rest of the way.
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Hailey Miller's work at the net had Old Tappan rolling early. |
Victoria Corcoran's kill from the middle and Jessica Braunstein's spike off the block gave Demarest a 10-4 lead, and the Norsewomen went up by seven for the first time at 14-7 when Old Tappan hit a serve into the net. Kirsten Kaiser then put one down from the middle to earn OT a point and a sideout, but Hailey Riede scored twice, once with a kill and the next with a block to kick off a 5-1 Demarest run that gave it a comfortable 20-8 lead and the Norsewomen cruised into the finals from there.
“It's definitely awesome because it was against Old Tappan, but it was still just the semis and we haven't won anything yet,” said Veronica Corcoran, the junior outside hitter was effective in mixing up her swings between dinks and hard one down the line. “We can't be that excited. Now we have made it to the finals, which we are really happy about, but we can't be happy just to get there.”
This match followed the exact pattern of the last time Demarest and Old Tappan met in the regular season. Old Tappan won the first set comfortably, the second set was a toss-up and Set 3 was all Norsewomen. On Friday night Old Tappan pulled away in the opener when Kaiser's block tied the score at 11 before two straight Demarest errors cost it the lead for good. Brittany Barry's boomer off a block closed out the first set in favor of the Golden Knights.
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Veronica Corcoran and Demarest will play defending champion IHA in Sunday's county final. |
Set 2 was played at razor thin margins with neither team having more than a two-point lead until an ace by Victoria Corcoran's ace gave Demarest a 16-13 lead. Natalie Alechko looked like she was going to swing the momentum back in Old Tappan's favor when she one off a dig from the front row, went back to serve and then dove to produce a winning dig that sliced over the net and hit the line. Alechko followed that sparkler with an ace to tie the score at 17. The middle set was then tied at 20, 21, 22 and 23 before a Riede kill gave Demarest a game point, which Victoria Corcoran converted with a tip from the middle.
Demarest carried that momentum right over into the third set and hopes it continues right into Sunday's county final.
“If we can just play our game and play smart we have a good chance, but against a team like IHA you can't have even one error for each player. If you do, there are six of us and if we each make one of those points could make the difference,” said Victoria Corcoran. “We can't come out not ready to go like we did in the first game tonight. We can't give IHA that first set, we have to be ready to go right from the start and keep it going.”
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