Wednesday, October 28, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Kristen Reindel finished with 9 kills as a part of a well-balanced attack that got Pascack Hills past Fair Lawn and into the Bergen County Tournament semfinals for the first time in school history.

OLD TAPPAN – When Shawn McDonald took over as the head coach of the Pascack Hills girls volleyball program, there was not much to work with. The sport was not exactly a high priority and being stuck in the NBIL with some of the state’s most successful programs meant that making any headway toward respectability was going to take a lot of work.

Call it a five year plan as the Cowgirls fortunes have done a complete 180 under McDonald. Pascack Hills had never been as far as the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament before it beat Rutherford in that very round this past Saturday and did itself one better on Tuesday night at Northern Valley/Old Tappan High School.

After struggling through jitters in the opening game against fourth-seeded Fair Lawn, fifth-seeded Pascack Hills settled in and swept the final two games for a 20-25, 25-17, 25-22 victory that pushed the Cowgirls further into uncharted territory. They will make their first ever appearance in the county semifinals on Friday against top seeded IHA, the defending overall state champion and a winner over No. 9 Paramus in the second game of the quarterfinal doubleheader.

Casey Hennecke's fast start led Fair Lawn to a 25-20 win in the opening game.

”I am really, really happy because we have worked so hard over the past four seasons to turn this program around,” said McDonald. “It was kind of like a club-type sport when I came in. We worked really hard and this is really the first group that I have been able to see go from freshmen to seniors, so I know all of them so well. I’ve been waiting for this and I am so proud of them.”

All of that was easy to say when the match was over, but when it started it was quite a different story. Before the butterflies quit dancing, Pascack Hills was down 6-1 and Fair Lawn had already established its top offensive threat, outside hitter Casey Hennecke. Not to long after that, Hennecke put up a block and got a hard tip to fall untouched to stake Fair Lawn to a 14-7 lead.

“For a lot of my girls it was the first time they had ever been on a stage like this, all of my girls actually,” said McDonald. “The first 18 points of that first game was them getting used to this arena. They had never been in that spot, so…they were scared.”

But Pascack Hills found its groove late in the first game and got as close as three points at 21-18, but Fair Lawn held on. Jackie O’Leary bounced one off a defender in the back row on game point as the Cutters closed out the first set.

Pascack Hills setter Jess Lomia spread the ball around on the way to recording 40 assists.

Fair Lawn wasn’t able to get off to a similar start in the Game 2 and that had as much to do with Pascack Hills’ comfort level as it did with a tactical switch against Hennecke on the outside. The Cowgirls' original plan was to force Hennecke to play down the line and take away her cross-court swings, but when Hennecke found so much early success, the Cowgirls tried to take away both avenues and moved their main blocking combination of Jessica Holm and Samantha Kurtzke closer to the boundary.

It got the Cowgirls off to a better start as they grabbed the lead for good at 3-2 when Corinne Palmer hit the line off a set from Jess Lomia and left the Cutters searching for offensive answers.

“They keyed on Casey and our passing wasn’t good enough to get the other girls involved in our offense,” said Fair Lawn head coach Pete Zisa. “They proved that we were a little more one-dimensional than we had hoped. They did a good job making adjustments.”

Fair Lawn senior setter Chelsea Benjamin totalled 23 asssits.

Hennecke kept swinging away and her rip through the double block had Fair Lawn within15-12, but Kristen Reindel knocked one off the block for Pascack Hills and it kicked off a 5-0 run that gave the Cowgirls the separation they needed. Sarah Hanrahan recorded the final point of Game 2 and left both teams 25 points from the Final 4.

“We started blocking better and that was the real turning point. When we started blocking their outside it just got completely different,” said Palmer. “We know that in any game if we are down that we can come back and win.”

The decisive set was the most competitive of the three games as it was tied 11 times, the last time at 22 all. Pascack Hills took advantage of a receiving error to take a 21-20 lead before Jana Nieman hit one through a block to bring Fair Lawn back into a tie at 21. Fair Lawn grabbed the next point and its last lead when Jackie O’Leary was successful on an attack from the outside, but a service error retied the game at 22.

Holm’s block put Pascack Hills in front at 23-22 and when Fair Lawn hit its next two kill attempts over the endline, the Cowgirls were able to celebrate their first ever trip to the county semifinals.

Pascack Hills' Samantha Kurtzke made her presence felt at the net all match long.

Holm (7 blocks) and Kurtzke (6 blocks) did the dirty work for Pascack Hills (14-2) while Lomia also carried a heavy load at the setter spot. She finished with a total of 40 assists and spread the ball around to Palmer, who finished with a match-high 13 kills, Hanrahan (10 kills) and Reindel (9 kills). Reindel also chipped in on defense with a team-high 12 digs and the Cowgirls will be one of just four teams left playing in the most competitive county tournament in New Jersey.

“It means everything to us right now,” said Lomia, also a starter in Pascack Hills’ successful girls basketball program. “In the beginning of the season we knew we were going to be good, but we didn’t know how good. We came out tonight trying to make a name for ourselves and I think we are proving ourselves.”

Hennecke and O’Leary each finished with 10 kills for Fair Lawn, while setter Chelsea Benjamin handed out 23 assists. Libero Tracy Wright was outstanding defensively, finishing with 23 digs for the Cutters, who fell to 13-3 on the season.

“We had our opportunities and we didn’t finish. Once they regained the momentum in Game 2 we never really regained it from them,” said Zisa. “Hopefully we’ll learn from this and put it to use in the state tournament.”

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