Monday, November 2, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

OLD TAPPAN – Over the past five years, the Immaculate Heart Academy volleyball team has been as dominant as any team in not just Bergen County, but in New Jersey, and has two Tournament of Champions titles to prove it. When it you look at the Blue Eagles’ impressive resume over that span there is one glaring void, a Bergen County championship. The last two years have been especially painful as they came into the county final undefeated only to be upset by Northern Valley/Demarest in 2007 and Northern Valley/Old Tappan last year.

Those were losses that all-state middle Ariel Scott and setter Kristin Flatekval took to heart. With a shot at revenge against Old Tappan in Saturday’s Bergen County Tournament final, the duo made sure there was not going to be another heartbreaking upset this year.

Top-seeded IHA took control midway through the first game and never trailed in the match. Scott put down 15 kills and Flatekval had 27 assists as IHA breezed its first Bergen County title since 1998 with a 25-13, 25-12 victory over at Northern Valley/Old Tappan High School.

“We wanted this one so bad and we felt it was ours to lose if we worked together,” said Flatekval. “I think we were scared to lose the last two years. When you are afraid to make a mistake, that’s when you end up making them. Today we were aggressive as we’ve been all year. It’s an amazing feeling to finally get it done in a county final.”

Old Tappan was riding high after a come-from-behind, three-game win over Ramapo in the semifinals on Friday night. That adrenaline carried over into the beginning of the final as the Golden Knights came out swinging. Junior Annisa Whitney had four early kills, the last of which gave her team a 10-8 lead in the first game.

That was the last bright spot for Old Tappan as little miscues added up to a big problem. Once Scott and her teammates got their legs under them, it was like a snowball rolling down a hill and the Golden Knights could do little to slow them down.

A service mistake and two attack errors give IHA a 12-11 lead, one it never gave back even when the teams switched sides. Ariel Scott had four kills and her sister, Raquel, added another with the Blue Eagles scoring six of the next seven points to take control before Ariel Scott’s kill capped the first game on a 17-3 run.

“I actually thought we started off pretty well, but we weren’t able to maintain that high level of play,” said Northern Valley/Old Tappan head coach Melissa Landeck. “We made a few mistakes and the momentum swung and we never got it back. How we started off is how the entire match had to go for us to be successful and it didn’t go that way. We dug ourselves a hole and we were never able to get out of it.”

Both Scott sisters, Danielle Michaels, and Petra Parros all had early kills to give IHA a sizeable lead in the second game. The finishing touches were put on by Athena Garbarino with some strong serving. She notched three straight aces to put IHA up by double-digits, 18-7, with IHA finally getting the monkey off of its back by hoisting the trophy as Bergen County Champion.

“We were really focused and none of us were afraid to swing away,” said Ariel Scott, who has verbally committed to No. 1 ranked Penn State University. “I thought we really did everything really well. We’ve been stressing on being a complete team and not having any weaknesses. I think we showed today that when we’re doing everything well that we are going to be really tough to beat.”

Ariel Scott had 15 kills, and eight digs to lead IHA (25-1). Raquel Scott and Parros each added six kills, while libero Michelle Cruz chipped in with seven digs.

Whitney led Northern Valley/Old Tappan (19-3) with nine kills, while Taylor Jansen added four. Kelsey Morgan led the Golden Knights with seven digs and Anna Kate Miller had 10 assists.

“We felt if we played our game, that it would be good enough to get a win and we got it,” said IHA co-head coach Mike DeCastro. “It sounds simple just to play loose and not make unforced errors, but that’s what we did. The last two years in the county final, we wondered ‘what if?’ because we weren’t the aggressors. Today we came out with intensity and we played extremely well.”

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