Wednesday, November 7, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

CALDWELL – The prospect of a great season coming to an end is something no individual on any team wants to face. But it is part of the lure of the state tournament where two evenly matched teams often meet up with their seasons on the line. Caldwell and Pascack Valley were two such team when they met up on Tuesday in the Group 2 volleyball quarterfinals.

They were dead even late in the third and deciding game and neither team was giving an inch until Caldwell’s Megan Knott took the ball behind the service line and took control of the match. She served six straight points, including four aces, to lift fourth-seeded Caldwell to a 25-22, 24-26, 25-17 victory over Pascack Valley, the No. 5 seed.

“I knew we had to make a run and I just tried to hit certain spots on the court,” said Knott, a sophomore. “We knew it was going to be a close match and we had to take it one step at a time.”

The Chiefs took an early behind the play of Knott and Emily Carson. Knott put down six kills in seven swings, all of sets from Carson, as Caldwell opened up a 10-3 lead.

The Indians cut an eight-point lead down to one on the strong serving of senior Alicia Crane. She drilled back-to-back aces to trim Caldwell’s lead to 17-16. But the Indians never got over the hump and another Knott kill gave the Chiefs the opening game.

Pascack Valley used the same formula that Caldwell did in the first game, opening an early lead and never letting the opponent pull ahead. Once again, it was the serving of Crane mixed with the overall play of setter Patricia Paraguay that lifted the Indians to an 8-3 lead.

However, the Chiefs pulled into a tie midway through the game and stayed with the Indians throughout the second game. Pascack Valley had two match points but squandered both of them as Caldwell pulled into a 24-all tie. PV bounced right back to win the next two points on a MarieClaire Najjar block followed by a kill from Alyssa Forget to square the match at one game a piece.

“Even though we lost the second game, I think our team was still confident,” said Caldwell’s Emily Carson. “The key for us was not to get overconfident. I just wanted to try and take control. I wanted to dump the ball into the middle and spread the ball around to my hitters to try and keep their defense off-balance.”

Caldwell forged ahead in game No. 3 and a dump kill by Carson gave the Chiefs a 9-5 lead, forcing Pascack Valley head coach Andrew Lewis to call one of his two allotted timeouts.

The Indians responded after the timeout by staying aggressive at the net. Najjar’s kill off a nice back set from Paraguay tied the game at 15. A sideout by the Chiefs pulled them ahead once again, this time to stay.

For most of the first three games, both teams received serve very well. But the Indians could not muster up an answer for the hard, topspin-heavy serve of Knott. She drilled an ace to make it a two-point lead and added two more back-to-back and then capped the 7-0 run with another ace to make it 22-15 and essentially close out the match.

“They made the big run at the end and we didn’t have enough time to get it back,” said Lewis. “The momentum went back and forth the whole match. I thought we played pretty well and Caldwell played pretty well also. I would have liked to get a shot at Chatham, but they got the run in the third game and they deserve to move on.”

Carson and Knott did most of the damage for Caldwell (23-3). Carson had 19 assists and 11 kills. Knott, who has over 300 kills on the year, finished with 16 kills and 14 service points, 10 digs, and five aces. Libero Erica Seidell led all players with 16 digs.

Paraguay had a solid overall performance for Pascack Valley (19-4) with 20 assists, seven digs, four kills, four service points, and two blocks. Crane led the team in service points and kills with 10 and eight, respectively. Forget had 12 digs and seven kills for the Indians.

Caldwell moves into Thursday’s Group 2 semifinals where they will face top-seeded Chatham, which won a three-game classic over River Dell for the second consecutive year in the state tournament.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to keep playing no matter who we get,” said Caldwell co-head coach Jeff Stiefbold. “But we would definitely like a chance to play Chatham. I thought we received serve very well throughout and (Knott) picked us up with her serving in the third game. It’s always a good match when we play Pascack Valley; they are a well-coached team and a class program. We played well enough to keep them off-balance and we got the big points when we needed them.”

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