Senior Samantha Kranzler finished with a game-high 15 kills and added 4 digs for Old Tappan, which improved to 7-0 with a win over Demarest on Monday.
DEMAREST – Northern Valley/Old Tappan jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first set on the magic arm of sophomore defensive specialist/libero Desi Malafis, who earned 8 consecutive service points, including back-to-back aces, en route to a 2-0 (25-15, 25-17) win over Demarest Monday night.
“We put a lot of work [into serving] at practice,” said senior libero Jamie Kim, who finished with 5 serving points, 7 digs and 1 assist. “Desi showed a lot of that today. I’m really proud of her for that.”
“It was a big motivation for us [to beat Demarest] after losing all our seniors (Layla and Maya Giordano, et al),” said junior middle blocker Julia Whaley, who blocked 3 shots and pounded a kill. “They were inspiring to me - especially Layla. I’m taking her position - and we’re all playing for Brenna [Delaney] - (a senior outside hitter who tore her ACL on the first play of the first match of the season). It’s sad for her to get hurt in the first game of the season.”
The Norsewomen scored a couple of points but kills by OT senior outside hitter Samantha Kranzler and junior middle blocker Gaby Paltag sandwiched around a Demarest attack error boosted the lead to 13-2.
“It’s really nice to have an offense three across,” said junior setter/opposite Eva Curko. “We have faith that everyone can put it down. Sam (Kranzler) is a really big contributor. She is our kill leader and it’s nice to have someone who can always put it down. We have so much trust in her - and all of the other hitters also - Bianca [Benasillo], Gaby (Paltag, 4 kills), Julia (Whaley). We all trust them in our front row and we know they’re working hard and we can trust them with whatever ball we get them.”
“The offense is doing a lot of great work for us,” added Kim. “[When they block] they slow down the balls, they call out tips - the communication is great. The big block presence on our team is so helpful.”
Alyssa Dimitriades returning a serve for Demarest.
A few plays later the Golden Knights took their biggest lead of the set on consecutive kills by Curko, one of which was a “quick hit” she learned from assistant coach Kelly Brogan.
“We work on that play a lot in practice,” Curko said. “Coach Brogan was a great player - and she’s still a great player. She plays with us a lot in practice. I look up to her. She was a great setter and great all around player. I like to build off of what she’s done in the past and help my team any way I can.”
Curko closed out the set with her third kill of the set. She finished with 7 kills in the match.
“I have an advantage of being a lefty setter,” she said. “I have a good angle on the court and I can just put that ball down anytime our setter, [senior] Addie [Gioffre] gets the first ball.”
After Whaley hammered a kill, Kim staked the Knights to a 6-0 lead on 5 service winners to open the second set.
Demarest scored a point but Old Tappan reeled off 5 more points to grab an 11-1 lead before Norsewoman sophomore Deana Finkelstein halted the rally with a block. Later she tallied on a well-placed kill and a thunderous kill as Demarest rallied to cut the Old Tappan lead to 16-11. But the Golden Knights outscored the Norsewomen the rest of the way and a kill by Paltag ended the match.
Old Tappan senior libero Jamie Kim finished with 5 service points, 7 digs and 1 assist.
“We’re having a lot of fun - putting the work in at practice, talking about our schemes,” said Kim. “[By] locking it in at practice and carrying the mindset over to the game is really important and we showed a lot of that today.”
Kranzler finished with a game-high 15 kills and added 4 digs. Gioffre distributed 20 assists and scooped 4 digs. Malafis contributed 5 digs and 1 assist.
“We have great setting by Addie (Gioffre) and great hitters,” said Landeck. “Sam is one of the best hitters in the state and everyone notices that more so than the defense and the passing. Jamie Kim, Desi Malafis and Adrianna Bryan serving to a location and playing defense is less noticed. Those are big, integral parts of what we are.”
“I really love this team so much,” said Curko. “We have a great energy and just controlling our side of the net is what we really focus on. The other team is going to do great things but so are we. We just need to focus on controlling our little things. It’s a lot of fun when we get our energy going and we have a big motivation on our side of the court. It’s just really fun to be able to play well with these girls.”
Old Tappan improved to 7-0, while Demarest fell to 4-3.
“We started off really clean,” said Landeck. “It’s what we’ve been talking about doing - setting the tone at the beginning of every match - that we’re going to serve in, we’re going to pass, start off really clean just to build confidence and get our legs under us to start the game. Today was one of our better games for sure.”
“We’ve just come off of a bunch of injuries and we finished last year losing to Demarest,” said Whaley. “So we wanted to come out and beat them. They lost a lot of seniors so it was a different type of game but I think we’re off to a pretty good start.”
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