Saturday, November 1, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Ariel Scott (11) dominated at the net as IHA, the undefeated top seed, swept Northern Highlands in the Bergen County Tournament semifinals.

OLD TAPPAN – The full lineups for both IHA and Northern Highlands, the two teams playing in Friday night’s second semifinal at the Bergen County Girls Volleyball Tournament had just been announced and the national anthem had just finished being played seconds earlier when Ariel Scott made her presence felt in the gym. It was the first point of the match and it was textbook.

A Northern Highlands serve, an IHA bump, a perfect set by Kristin Flatekval and there was Scott, skying over the tape and hitting a booming spike into the back corner that almost put a dent in the floor. With that, the tone was set for IHA’s 25-17, 25-16 sweep of the fourth-seeded Highlanders as IHA made it back to the county final. The Blue Eagles, top-seeded and undefeated, will play No. 3 Old Tappan on Sunday afternoon for all the marbles.

“I think the story for us all season is that Ariel is our go to player and she is one of the top players in the state,” said IHA co-head coach Mike DeCastro. “When she is on she is tough to stop.”

Allison Dench had seven kills for Northern Highlands, which fell to 19-4 on the season.

That was no doubt the case against Northern Highlands as Scott finished with 14 kills, six blocks and six digs and left no easy solutions for the Highlanders’ defense.

“Ariel is an unbelievable player, but they also get production from their other outside [hitter] and their middle. There is no gap in their play,” said Highlands head coach Caryn Schanstine. “We tried at first setting up a two-man block, but then we pulled it off because as soon as we set the two-man block they were tipping. When you 6-4 [like Ariel Scott] you can read the court pretty well.”

Highlands did its best to hang in there and was doing it quite well when Allison Dench put one off the fingertips of the IHA block to tie the score at 12 in the opening game, but that was when the Blue Eagles found their stride. Raquel Scott’s tip found the floor to give IHA the lead back and it set up a 5-0 run that moved them comfortably in front and Ariel Scott’s tip over the block closed out another 5-0 IHA run and the first game.

“We always want to start out strong. It makes it harder if start slow and then have to catch up to win games, so we were definitely looking to get off to a good start,” said Ariel Scott. “The closer we get to the county finals and the state tournament, the more excited we get and the harder we work. We were focused coming into this match.”

Kristin Flatekval handed out 20 assists as IHA improved to 22-0.

Everything went right for the Blue Eagles early in Game 2, as they ran out to a 6-1 lead it was Flatekval, their junior setter, who got into the act of winning points. Her kill into the back left corner gave IHA the five-point lead that grew to eight points at 12-4 on Petra Parros’ kill. Highlands never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

“The focus is definitely there and even in practice you can see the urgency in them,” said DeCastro, whose team improved to 22-0 on the season. “You can just feel it. These girls really want to win and after last year when we got a taste of winning they want those good things to happen again, especially our seniors. They are really trying to make sure that they experience that success again this year.”

Katie Havlicek added solid support to the IHA offense with her six kills and she also had four digs. Flatekval handed out 24 assists and senior libero Stephanie Cruz played her usual steady game on defense, finishing with 10 digs.

Highlands, which fell to 19-4 on the season, was led by Dench’s seven kills and got 20 assists from setter Jen Forhecz and 19 digs from Hannah Mayer. The loss was more a hiccup than a roadblock in what has been a renaissance season for the Highlanders. They are the No. 3 seed in the Group 3 state tournament and they are better for the experience of having played a powerhouse like IHA in a big game.

“We have one more shot to make a run. I have a lot of confidence in this whole team. We’ve gotten a lot of leadership from the seniors in this program,” said Schanstine. “This was a disappointing loss, but we didn’t give up. You just have to keep playing and I think that has been our motto all season. We’ve had a lot of three game matches and these girls don’t give up.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.