Monday,
November 2, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
|
Natalie Alechko finished with 15 kills, including some big one at the end of both games, as Old Tappan won its first county title since 2010 with a 25-23, 25-20 sweep of IHA on Sunday afternoon. |
OLD TAPPAN – There is no tougher tournament to win in all of New Jersey high school sports than the Bergen County Girls Volleyball Tournament. With so many of the state’s top teams concentrated in the Northeast corner of the state, it is even harder to win than the Tournament of Champions.
Consider Northern Valley/Old Tappan’s run to this year’s county final. In the quarterfinals, the Golden Knights were taken to three games by Bogota, a program that has won three of the last four Group 1 state titles. In the semifinals, Old Tappan was matched against rival Northern Valley/Demarest, the defending Group 3 state champion that made it all the way to the last year’s T of C final. And to win its first county title since 2010, all Old Tappan had to do was get past IHA, the two-time defending champ that has won the T of C four straight times and seven times in the last eight years.
There is no gauntlet like that anywhere else in the state in any other sport and that is what makes Old Tappan’s 25-23, 25-20 victory in its own home gym on Sunday over IHA so much more impressive.
“Bergen County has not only some of the best teams and players, but also some of the best coaches that New Jersey has to offer. No disrespect to other parts of the state, but in one cluster, Bergen County is pretty strong,” said Old Tappan head coach Melissa Landeck. “So to go through this tournament and have to face the opponents that you have to face, you know [those coaches] are good technicians, they are good motivators of their teams and they know how to win. That is why I just told my kids to enjoy this win, to soak it all in because this isn’t something that happens every year.”
With the caliber of the two teams on the floor neither was just going to give away points. Freebies like serves hit out of bounds, double touches and open swings spiked into the net were few and far between. Mostly it was long rallies, booming attacks and digs on balls that most other teams just don’t get to.
The first game was tied through the first 30 points before IHA edged in front and threatened to stay there. A three-point run started by Casey King’s rip down the line and followed by two straight Old Tappan errors, a rarity, gave the Blue Eagles the momentum and an 18-15 lead. They went up by four, 21-17, after an Annabel Reyes block and at 22-18 when Catherine Fazio also stuffed one at the net.
|
Annabel Reyes was a force in the middle all match long for IHA. |
That was when Old Tappan needed its best offensive player to come through and setter Kelly Brogan went right to Natalie Alechko, who responded with a cross-court blast that steadied the Knights. Two points later, Alechko banged one off the block to cut the deficit to 23-21, she hit one off the dig to make it a one-point game and Brogan then served an ace to tie it at 23 and force an IHA (29-6) time out.
It was a two-point race to the finish of the all-important first set and Old Tappan won it. Sophomore Julia Passante, an obstacle at the net all game long, stuffed an overpass to give the Knights the only game point they needed as Alechko buried one from the outside. Old Tappan the final five points of the first set and seven of the last eight to grab a 1-0 lead.
“The competitive energy that we have in our gym, we want to replicate what it is like in a game so everyone is swinging their hardest in practice,” said Alechko, one of the state’s top outside hitters. “We go at it all the time to try to get ready for situations like these.”
Game 2 followed a similar pattern as the first as the teams split the first 18 points before IHA. A service winner by Julia Morris and then two mishits by Old Tappan put the Eagles in front 12-9 and forced an Old Tappan timeout. IHA was still up three at 17-14 after Reyes scored from the middle of the court. But again, Old Tappan turned to Alechko and she responded.
Alechko hammered one from the outside and a block that tied the game at 17 and a Passante block then gave the Knights an 18-17 advantage. With kills by Alechko and Maya Ilovsky, Old Tappan went up 21-18 and then stayed the course. Ilovsky scored three of the final four points, including a cross-court winner on match point, to start the celebration of the Knights first county title in five years.
|
Sophomore Julia Passante came up with a couple of key blocks for Old Tappan, which is now 19-0 on the season. |
“We are so close knit and we don’t give up on each other. We kept our composure and if we messed up a point we just went after the next one” said Ilovsky, a junior outside hitter. “It feels great. It’s insane. IHA has usually been the ones to take [the county title] so this just feels so good.
Old Tappan, which improved to 19-0 on the season, was balanced. Alechko led the Knights with 15 kills, but also handled her defensive responsibilities with 6 digs. Ilovsky had 7 kills and 7 digs, Brogan handed out 24 assists to go with 5 digs and Kristen Kaiser had 2 kills and two digs.
By getting contributions from everyone, Old Tappan kept IHA from being able to focus solely on anyone, namely Alechko, who took her swings when they were there but did not force the action.
“All year long Natalie has been showing up as the big player in the big games and that is a unique quality with her because not every big player shows up in every big game. But she has done that for us time and again this year,” said Landeck. “That being said, we have other weapons so that people have to respect the other hitters and not cheat too much on Natalie. Kirsten Kaiser, Julia Passante, Brittany Barry, Erika Calabrese, Maya [Ilovsky] can put a ball away, too, and I credit Kelly Brogan, our setter, for giving the right person the right ball at the right time.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME. TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com. |