Wednesday, September 24, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Anna Kate Miller keeping a point alive for Old Tappan, which improved to 4-0 on the season with a 25-18, 25-12 win over rival Demarest.

DEMAREST -- It is the marquee matchup on the regular season NBIL Division 1 schedule every season. When Demarest and Old Tappan, sister schools in the Northern Valley sending district, meet up in volleyball it always seems to have league title implications and goes a long way toward deciding seeds in the Bergen County and state sectional tournaments.

This year, round one goes to Old Tappan and it was unanimous on all cards. After trading points for the first half of the first game, Old Tappan turned it on and never looked back. Demarest took a two point lead at 11-9 in the opening game when Helena Riede went cross court for a winner, but Old Tappan took three straight points to take its first lead.

Old Tappan then took the lead for good when Alex Radetzky hit one off a block and then served two straight service winners to open a cushion and the Golden Knights went on to win 25-18, 25-12 in Demarest on Tuesday night.

Sophomore Rachel Binder is one of a host of young players in the Demarest lineup.

”We exchanged points early and I think it was kind of getting used to the flow of the game. What I was most proud of tonight was the first 12 points of Game 1,” said OT head coach Melissa Landeck. “Demarest was either up one or up two; it was kind of back and forth for a while there. I thought we played with a lot of composure and poise in that situation. We didn’t get negative or get down if the point didn’t go our way. There were a lot of really amazing rallies early on in Game 1. Once those rallies starting going our way, we heated up a bit.”

Aiyanna Whitney, the sophomore transfer from Cresskill, can dominate a game from the front row with hard swings and her blocking ability, but she rattled off rattled off four straight service points to take Old Tappan from up three to up 20-13. On game point, Whitney hit a boomer that closed out the opening game.

The second game was all Old Tappan. Radetzky put ball to floor to win the opening point and the serve for the Golden Knights and then Katie Blank took over from behind the line. Blank fired off 13 straight service points to open a 14-0 lead and the Knights coasted home.

“We kept our confidence. We played this game like we play every other game and that was important. We played our game,” said Blank, OT’s junior libero. “We play open gym with those girls [from Demarest] all summer long, so we know all of them, we play club with them. That makes it hard not to put Demarest above any other team on our schedule, but we decided before the season that we would treat this match like all of the others and it worked.”

Aiyana Whitney, a sophomore transfer from Cresskill, gives Old Tappan a formidable presence at the net.

Old Tappan won the regular season battle last year when it won the NBIL-Division 1 championship, but Demarest went on to win the Bergen County Tournament title. The Norsewomen have been the gold standard in girls volleyball on the state wide level for many years and it is not out of the question that they, with players like Lindsay Runge and Jaimie Beddoe, could regain that status as the season wears on, but they do have some work to do.

“This group is fairly inexperienced with the whole Demarest thing and I thought Old Tappan was amazing today and did a nice job,” said Demarest head coach Beth Powell, whose team fell to 2-2 on the season. “We have to get the basics, serving and passing, and maybe next time around it will be a different story. I talked to them about taking responsibility for their part of the game, about taking care of the details. All of those little things make a difference. Even if you are not as tall or as strong or as experienced [as the opponent] if you take care of the details then at least you are in the game.”

Radetzky played well at the net for Old Tappan, finishing with 10 kills, and Whitney had seven kills. Old Tappan uses two setters and both of them played well. Anna Kate Miller had a match-high 12 assists while Michelle Picinic handed out eight. Senior Jaclynn Geitz and Blank led the Old Tappan defense with 11 and six digs, respectively, and Senior Kara Leary had four blocks. Geitz also added a match high 11 kills in a solid all around performance.

“We are all really happy because we worked really well together and we won. We communicated well and we never stopped working hard,” said Geitz, a senior. “On the bus ride here we knew it was the Demarest game and everything that goes with it, but we kept that under control. We just want to take every game as it comes and play the same way every time.”

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