Thursday, October 27, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Haley Hirsch finished with a a double-double (13 digs, 10 kills) as Demarest needed all three sets to knock off River Dell in the Bergen County quarterfinals.

OLD TAPPAN – Poise, patience and self confidence. As much as the finer points of the game of volleyball, those are the mental aspects of the game that Northern Valley/Demarest head coach Beth Powell teaches her players and they needed those attributes on Wednesday night as River Dell gave the Norsewomen everything they could handle with a berth in the Bergen County Tournament semifinals on the line.

The match was a highly-competitive one from start to finish. After failing to cash in on two previous match points, third-seeded Demarest cashed in on the third for an exhilarating 26-28, 25-18, 27-25 victory over the No. 6 seed River Dell in the Bergen County quarterfinals at Northern Valley/Old Tappan High School.

"This was a pretty crazy match, but I'm glad we came out on top," said Northern Valley/Demarest senior Kat Hirsch. "When we lost the first game, we were in shock a little bit, but coach just told us to relax and play our game. If we kept believing in each other and played the way we know how, we would find a way to come back and win this one."

It looked as if the Norsewomen were going to take the opening stanza when Kat Hirsch slammed down three kills in a 10-1 run for an 18-12 lead, but River Dell stormed right back to take the lead on three straight kills by Mary Maccabee. Teammate Emily Wilts had her two kills in the match, but picked a good time for one of them. That came on the final point of the first game to give River Dell the lead after a grueling first game, 28-26.

River Dell's Kate Brock finished with 17 kills and 9 digs.

The second game was not as hotly contested as Demarest got a kill and a block on consecutive points from Emily Abramovici to snap a 3-all tie with a 6-0 spurt en route to forcing a rubber game for the right to move onto the BCT semis.

"It all came down to one game, and we knew every point was going to be an important one," said Demarest senior setter Melissa Pesce. "Not everything is going to go smoothly in a match and you have to be prepared for that. Sometimes you just have to let out that inner beast and leave it all out on the court. Winning this match wasn't going to come easy, we had to gut this one out."

Demarest spread the ball around effectively in the third game with both Kat and Haley Hirsch boosting the Norsewomen to a 21-14 lead. But the Hawks showed no quit and battled back behind the only returning first-team All-Bergen player from last year's squad, Kate Brock. The 6-foot senior middle blocker had a big block sandwich by two kills to cap a 9-2 run to tie it at 23.

The Norsewomen had match point twice, first on a kill from Alex Kaechele and then on an attack error before finally closing the match out. Haley Hirsch's perfectly executed tip kill gave her team a 26-25 lead and a Brooke Runge serve was not returned as Demarest held on for the win.

Alex Kaechele and Demarest will play second-seeded Bogota in the semifinals on Friday.

"We had our chances and that's all you can ask for in the third game of a county quarterfinal," said River Dell head coach Dianne Furusawa. "We were constantly playing catch-up in the second and third games. While I give my kids a ton of credit for hanging in there and nearly pulling out the win, you can only play like that for so long before it catches up to you and it finally caught us there at the end."

Pesce had a well-rounded performance for Demarest (18-2) with 32 assists, 11 service points, five digs, and four kills. Haley Hirsch had a double-double with 13 digs and 10 kills, while her sister Kat led the team in kills with 12.

Brock was all over the court for River Dell (17-3), finishing with 17 kills and nine digs. Libero Lindsay Clark had 12 digs and Wilts chipped in with 11. Setter Kalette deMarrais also had a solid effort with 27 assists.

Demarest will be tested again on Friday night when it faces second-seeded Bogota for a berth in the BCT final. As poised as the Demarest players were last night, they will have to be even more so when they face a uber-talented Bogota squad, hungry to take the next step.

'This is a great, great win, but we have to put it behind us," said Powell. "The deeper you go into this county tournament, there is less room for error. This team finds ways to gut its way out of tough situations and make the best of them. We came together at the right time tonight, we can take a deep breath, and now we can focus on getting ready for the semifinals on Friday night."

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