Saturday,
October 20, 2007
By
Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
RUTHERFORD –
In recent years, Rutherford has grown by leaps and bounds in establishing
itself as one of the elite girls volleyball programs in Bergen
County. With virtually its entire team returning this year, head
coach Helen Antzoulides was face with a tough decision.
Should she stick with
a two-setter rotation as she did a year ago with success, or go
with her gut and choose between one of two talented players to
run the offense? She decided to go with the one setter and the
move has paid off with a league title and an undefeated start
to the season.
Caitlin Whitman has
run the offense from the setter’s spot and that is a nice
job to have when you have Angelika Kopacz as a teammate. Whitman
had 15 assists, 10 of them to Kopacz, as Rutherford clinched the
BCSL-American Division title and improved to 19-0 with a 25, 12,
25-14 win over Tenafly.
“This is a big
win because we played well against a pretty good team,”
said Kopacz. “The counties are here and the states are coming
up soon. We still want to improve, but we’re getting closer
to where we think we should be as a team. Everyone knows their
role this year and we’ve adjusted to it pretty well.”
Rutherford held a slim
lead before breaking it open early in game No. 1. Kopacz and Deborah
Hong each had two kills in an 11-1 run to give the Bulldogs an
18-6 lead. The second game was more of the same as Rutherford
was on a roll and there was little Tenafly could do to stop it.
The key was passing
and that fell on the shoulders of Jackie Kressaty. The senior
has made the transition seamlessly from splitting time as the
setter last year to doing a little bit of everything this season.
Whether it is hitting from the back row or playing solid defense,
she gives the Bulldogs more diversity offensively.
The Bulldogs passed
and received serve well throughout, which helped then go on several
mini-runs. Back-to-back kills by Kopacz early in the game gave
them the lead for good and they never looked back.
“We tried our
best, Rutherford was just on its game today,” said Tenafly
head coach Jeff Koehler. “They are so powerful and then
can beat you from just about anywhere on the court. I thought
we played defensively, we just had a tough time running our offense.
With a team like Rutherford, when they are on, there isn’t
much you can do to stop them.”
Kopacz had a double-double
with 11 digs and 10 kills for Rutherford (19-0). Whitman added
15 assists, nine service points, four digs, three kills, and two
aces.
Gianna Quattrini notched
a career-high five blocks for Tenafly (15-3). Christina Ma and
Michelle Koles each had eight digs. Jules Barrett led the team
in kills with five.
“We
went to one setter and so far it has worked,” said Antzoulides.
“Caitlin (Whitman) has done a nice job and Jackie (Kressaty)
does a little bit of everything for us. I think we can still get
a lot better and we’ll need to if we’re going to do
well in counties and states. But to be in control of a match against
Tenafly, which is a solid team, is a good sign at this point in
the season.”
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