Friday, October 16, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Rachel Binder had a team-high 8 blocks for N/V Demarest, which improved to 12-3 on the season with a two-game sweep of Ramapo.

DEMAREST – The term ‘Work in Progress’ has been used often by Northern Valley/Demarest head coach Beth Powell this season. Demarest has been the most dominant program in New Jersey over the past decade, but when success is measured by county, state sectional, and outright state championships, not to mention supremacy in the NBIL where many of the state’s top teams reside, this year’s Norsewomen had a lot improvements to make.

But make no mistake, the work is getting done and the progress was evident on Thursday when Demarest took the lead in the first game against Ramapo at 8-7 and never gave it back and then led wire-to-wire in Game 2 to secure a 25-20, 25-14 win to improve to 12-3 on the season.

“We are a work in progress, but our hard work is paying off. We want to go as far as we can in the county [tournament] and the states and that means being the last team standing,” said Hillary Redisch, Demarest’s senior setter. “There are big shoes to fill when you play volleyball at Demarest. We know the history here and we are doing the best we can.”

Nicole Kincade was a force at the net all match long for Ramapo, which fell to 12-3.

After Ramapo’s imposing middle hitter Nicole Kincade almost put the ball through the floor on a quick set from Meghan Hubert, the Green Raiders had a 5-1 lead and forced Powell to call an early time out. Shortly thereafter, Demarest took over.

The Norsewomen tied the match at 6-6 when Rachel Binder (4 kills, 8 blocks) smacked one off the block on the left side and took the lead for good at 8-7 when Lindsay Runge (7 kills, 6 digs) hit a winner from the opposite side. Runge then added two points on her serve and Demarest moved in front by a 10-7 score. The lead was still three points at 19-16 after a Kincade block, but Helena Riede pushed one over the Ramapo block to make it 20-16 and Ramapo would get no closer in the opening game.

Binder scored consecutive points with a kill and a block to make it 22-16 and the Norsewomen put the game away when Ramapo, facing game point, hit its final serve wide.

“The thing with Ramapo is that they have a very strong middle and very strong outsides and as important as it is for us to try to shut them down blocking wise, the most important part of our game against any team is serving and passing,” said Riede, “We’ve had a lot of struggle this season, a lot of weird stuff has happened. We’ve had people quit; our other setter (Melissa Pesce) hurt her knee in our last game. We’ve had hardship and adversity throughout the season, but our goals are always the same: Nothing drops in front of us, get all the balls up and server the ball over the net not into it."

Helena Riede is part of Demarest's diverse offense, which sets the player with the best opening.

In other words, Demarest has been working on the fundamentals and did them all well in the second game. Riede secured the first point with a block and the Norsewomen never gave the lead back.

“We talked about it before the game, it was the only thing we talked about, and that was execution, executing what we do well in all areas and we didn’t do it,” said Ramapo head coach Dave Van Hook. “Demarest does not beat itself, you have to find a way to put the pressure on them and we were really able to do that after the middle of the first game.”

After Sarah Giegerich painted the back line with a kill that got Ramapo back to within 6-4 in the second game, Demarest ran off the next seven straight points, a run that not even two Ramapo timeouts could halt. Riede got it started when she circled in behind a Redisch (21 assists) set for a quick kill. Redisch also had two service winners in the spurt, Elena Holodny tipped a ball over that fell for a point and a Ramapo hitting error left it trailing by a 13-4 score.

The lead was nice, but Powell wasn’t counting it as a win just yet, especially when the Norsewomen saw a 17-7 lead shrink an 18-13 advantage just a couple of minutes later.

Setting Meghan Hubert and Ramapo will playing three of the state's best teams in the same week.

“I would say that you are underestimating comfort, because I always feel like that the team that is losing is going to blow right by the other one, whether it is my team or the other,” said Powell. “When it was 18-13 I was not comfortable at all. You just want to get the next point and get the match over and get out of here. You don’t want to give any team, especially a team as good as Ramapo, a chance to get back in it because they are certainly good enough to do it.”

Demarest finished out the game on the serve of Binder, who scored the final four points, the last of which on a laser that hit the tape on its way to an open spot on the floor to close out the match and a season sweep of Ramapo, which is in the middle of as tough a schedule as a high school volleyball team in New Jersey could face.

The Raiders (12-3) topped defending Group 3 state champion Northern Highlands before visiting Demarest and then will play defending Bergen County champions Northern Valley/Old Tappan on Friday. Ramapo’s three losses this season have been to Demarest twice (the first time in a three-set marathon) and to Old Tappan.

“It’s as tough as it gets right now for us, but all we can do is keep playing and keep improving,” said Van Hook, whose team is the No. 3 seed in the Bergen County Tournament and has a welcomed opening round bye. “We have Old Tappan tomorrow, so we just have to move on.”

Elena Holodny and Demarest will carry the No. 6 seed into the Bergen County Tourney.

Demarest is the No. 6 seed in the county tournament and also has a first round bye, but there is no time to digest the bracket as the Norsewomen have Northern Highlands, a team they lost to the first time around, next up on the schedule.

“I am one of those coaches that only knows my next match and it is [Friday] night. It is Northern Highlands and we lost to them last time and we have to be ready to go again tomorrow night,” said Powell. “The schedule is tough, Ramapo’s week is harder than most team’s state [tournament] run, and we are all in the same line. You can’t go anywhere in the county or in the states without running into one of these NBIL teams. It’s crazy.”

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