CRESSKILL - Park Ridge topped the Cougars 2-0 (25-20, 26-24) Friday night in the latest classic volleyball match between these two rivals.

“I give Cresskill a lot of credit,” said Owls coach Bill Allen. “I know they’re a young team and I know how great of a coach Laura [Germano] is and we know every time we come here it’s going to be really, really tough. They showed that for two sets today. I think both sets could have gone either way - it’s a couple of plays here and there. They gave us a great fight and we knew they would. We expect that every time we see them. It’s going to be an energetic game and someone’s going to be really upset at the end. We made just enough plays for it to be us.”

The final point of the match was very upsetting for the Cougars. With Park Ridge ahead, 25-24, an Owls server put the ball into the net to make the score 25-all. But a referee’s whistle stopped play as the Cougars were called for an overlap penalty. A Cresskill player in the back row moved forward prior to the ball being struck by the server.

Accordingly she was ruled to be out of position, which is a violation resulting in a one-point penalty. Therefore, the Owls were awarded the point so the game and match ended, 26-24.

“It's a common call,” said Allen. “To see it called at that point of the game - to end the game - is … We talk about this in all sports. You want the players to decide it. We talk about things that we can and can’t control and we can’t control the referees’ whistles.”

The match was close in the first set with neither team taking more than a four-point lead until the end. There were 4 ties and 3 lead changes in the set. Cougars senior middle blocker Caitlin McGee was on fire, pounding 3 of her team-high 7 kills and adding a block to keep Cresskill in the first set.

Owls senior Mia Izzo tallied point numbers 23 and 24 and a Cresskill attack error gave Park Ridge the first set, 25-20.

“Our offense is a work in progress,” Izzo said. “We’re still trying to gel together as a team. My setter, [junior] Ella [McDermott], has been giving me stuff I can work with and I just swing away.”

Izzo (18 kills, 5 blocks, 3 digs, 1 assist) was dominant throughout the match.

“Mia is having her best season for sure,” said Allen. “Mia is so strong with the ball. She’s so smart with how she plays the game, how she understands the game and how she sees the game.”

As good as the offense was, the Owls defense also came to play. Senior libero Izzy Yarenis (20 digs, 8 service points and 5 kills), is the leader of the defense.

“Our defense has really been such a work in progress the last couple of years,” she said. “We’ve gained a few people, we’ve lost a few people. Our seniors last year were mostly defense and now we have two new starting defense players - Allie Graham, a freshman and Serena Wagner, a sophomore. They have really been unstoppable in the back row. As the libero I’m captain of the defense and I feel like I’m out there with two other liberos. It’s amazing to play with them and see them as younger players grow. They come to me for advice and I’m so eager to give it to them. They’re great and the full back row has been so eager to get the ball. They want it. We’ve been talking about that all year. You have to want the ball; you have to want to be on the court. Today we wanted it.”

Allen is very pleased with his senior leaders, Izzo and Yarenis.

“For those two girls it goes beyond what they do on our side,” Allen said. “It’s the way they lift up their team in huddles, it’s the way they help out girls in practice. It’s the way they prepare before games, watching film on their own, being active in the film room talking and identifying things they feel could be an advantage for us. They are truly coaches on the floor and in the huddle for us. It’s been awesome to watch them grow into that.They are really good players - they were both starting varsity players since freshman year. We got our first league title in 30 years last year and they’re really motivated to want to keep it going and have a great senior year.”

Cresskill fell behind in the second set due to a series of missed serves and attack errors. But back-to-back service aces by sophomore Alivia Salob and a couple of kills by McGee helped the Cougars to come back and tie the game 11-all. Later, another kill by McGee gave Cresskill a 14-12 lead prompting an Owls timeout. 

“We’ve found ourselves in that position too many times where we’ve had to come back,” Yarenis said. “We always say nothing drops without a body on it and this entire week we’ve really put that into effect. Against Waldwick we were down 18-9 and we fought back and won the set. We emphasize all or nothing - 110 percent for each ball on the defense. That second set we saw it come back like just that.”

Two plays after the timeout Allen questioned the 17-12 score shown on the scoreboard, saying Cresskill had one point too many. After a lengthy discussion officials decided the score was correct.
Allen wasn’t happy but he accepted the decision and decided to use it to his advantage.

“We’re always looking for ways to find an edge and pick ourselves up, especially when we’re struggling a little bit or making bad plays,” said Allen. “Sometimes it’s just to motivate ourselves if we made a couple of mistakes. So with the scoring discrepancy we wanted to rally around that and play better and we got back into the game.”

Using the scoring controversy for motivation proved to be beneficial as the Owls scored 2 of the next 3 points. They were trailing, 18-15, when a ball headed out of bounds was run down by Izzo, who made an over the shoulder shot that went over the net on the Cresskill side. 

“I didn’t know if I was going to get it but you have to hustle for every ball,” Izzo said of the miracle shot. “I thought I would give my team a chance and it worked in our favor. I just swung and it hit me in a good spot and it worked. I was really lucky and we were ready for when it came back over.”

But the ball didn’t come back over as the Cougars were unable to handle the shot and Park Ridge got the point. Two plays later Izzo blasted a kill to tie the set 18-18. After that the second set was tied at 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 before Izzo crushed her 18th kill to give the Owls a match point.

Then came the overlap call.

“We’ve had four games this week - our only practice was Wednesday - so we’ve really put in the work and it’s showing,” said Yarenis. “The hitters in the front row have improved so much. Mia has been carrying our offense, our setter, Ella McDermott (17 assists, 1 dig), hit 500 [career] assists yesterday. We’ve been really growing as a team. We’re on the older side - we have six players leaving after this year - and we’ve seen the underclassmen stepping up. [Junior] Lori Graham, our outside, I don’t know how many kills she got today. It’s great to see everyone stepping up.” 

Park Ridge improved to 7-2, while Cresskill fell to 3-5.  

“We lost our first two games to St. Mary’s and Glen Rock,” said Izzo. “They were tough games but they were our first two. We’re a strong group and as long as we’re all trying and playing our best I think we can beat any team that comes our way. Cresskill is a strong team and with this rivalry we bring out the best in each other. There were great plays on both sides. Their middles were crushing it but so was our team. We were playing smart ball. I think we bring out the best in each other. It’s a great rivalry.”
“I am on Cloud 9 right now,” added Yarenis. “We’ve had an amazing season. We have an amazing team, amazing coaches and amazing chemistry all together. Every single day I’m antsy to get on the court, antsy to be with my team. It’s amazing.”

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