Monday,
November 24, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Kristin Kirwan and the IHA seniors went out with a fourth straight T of C title after a three-set victory over NV/Demarest on Sunday at South Brunswick High School. |
MONMOUTH JUNCTION – The two best teams in the state were pitted against each other for the second time this season with one set to play for a coveted crown. The first time was in the Bergen County Tournament final when Northern Valley/Demarest became the only in-state team to take IHA to three sets before the Blue Eagles rallied to retain their title. The same scenario presented itself for even higher stakes on Sunday in the championship match of the Tournament of Champions where the race to the trophy was reduced to 10 points with the two perennial powerhouses locked in a 15-all tie in the third and deciding set.
“We've been in situations before where we have been down and even where we lost a set and had to win in the third like against [Demarest] the last time we played them. We've been fighters all year and we had to keep going,” said IHA senior libero Maeve Kenny. “We might get into our little funks, but we are a team that fights to the last whistle and that is what we had to do today.”
It was a Demarest attack error that gave IHA the little window it needed to step through to the finish as the Blue Eagles took the lead at 16-15, which was the start of a 7-1 run that finally decided the winner. With a 25-21, 20-25, 25-20 victory at South Brunswick High School, IHA solidified itself as the No. 1 team in New Jersey for this year and the most dominant over the past decade as it has now won four straight Tournament of Champions titles and seven in the last eight years.
“To go to three game and win it against a team like Demarest really make you feel like you earned it. You know Demarest, they are always going to find a way to keep coming back and I never felt like we had it won until the very last point,” said IHA head coach Maria Nolan. “There were some times where we were stuck in rotations that we just couldn't get out of and Demarest is so good at taking advantage of those things. I definitely feel like we earned this one.”
Kristin Kirwan, who has been battling injury for the last week and was in and out of the lineup in Saturday's semifinal win over River Dell, had a kill from the outside to break a 5-5 tie in the first game and IHA never got caught. A 5-0 run behind the serve of Caitlin Floyd took the Blue Eagles out to a 15-8 lead and they were up 21-14 when Emma Ray reached back for a set and got it to drop untouched on the other side. In true Demarest fashion, the Norsewomen kept after it and were able to make the latter stages of the opening set interesting. They close to withing 22-18 on a tip by Hailey Reide and then got back-to-back blocks by Jess Braunstein right out of an IHA timeout to creep to within 22-20, but an attack error gave IHA a set point at 24-21 and Casey King's ace gave IHA the 1-0 advantage.
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Hailey Reide had 19 kills in her final game for Demarest. |
Even though it did not win the first set, the late rally gave Demarest the momentum that it carried right over into Game 2 when they ripped off nine straight points on the serve of senior setter Brooke Runge to race out to an 11-2 advantage. But so little separates these teams in terms of ability, that is hard for one to blow the other out and IHA was back even midway through the set at 14 and even took a couple of two-point leads at 16-14 and 17-15 before retying the score at 18 on a Reide kill.
The senior outside hitter had another one to give Demarest the lead back and a full swing off the block on set point to give the Norsewomen a 25-20 win and set up a third set to decide the state champion. And for a while it looked like it was going to go right down to the wire as Demarest fought back from a three-point deficit to tie the deciding set at 10 and built a two-point advantage before a Jamie DelRosario tip and King kill off the block brought it back even for the last time at 15-15.
Demarest put two straight swings outside the boundary to gift IHA the 17-15 lead and force a Demarest timeout and the Norsewomen burned their final one four points later with IHA up 20-16 after Kirwan scored from the outside.
“I say this every year after whatever my last game is because only one team wins in the end and that is that your weaknesses always come back at you and that little bit of relax in the third game [came back at us],” said Demarest head coach Beth Powell. “If we could have pressed at that moment [at 15-15] instead of making critical errors right in that little stretch, that is the difference for me in that game because then the pressure would be on them.”
Instead, IHA scored 10 of the final 15 points of the match to close it out. Casey King had a kill at the end of a long rally to give the Eagles a match point at 24-19 and Floyd's tip that fell untouched gave IHA another trophy to pose with in postgame pictures.
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Caitlin Floyd had 27 assists for IHA and now has 3,015 for her career. |
IHA spread its offense around with Reyes (10 kills), Kirwan (8) and King (7) all doing damage at the net when picked out by Floyd, the junior setter who handed out 27 assists to top 3,000 for her career. She now has 3,015 with still one year of high school volleyball yet to play. Kenny was outstanding on the IHA back line as she dug up 26 balls to go with 8 from Floyd and 6 from freshman Julia Morris. It was another historic season for IHA, which finished with a 41-1 record with no losses against New Jersey competition and it only went to three sets twice, both times against Demarest.
“Every single grade level stepped up for us this year, from the freshmen on up and it is motivating. We had a lot of injuries this year and every body on the team was important for us and we needed every one to get here and win today,” said Kirwan. “We all worked together and that makes it very satisfying.”
It was a less than satisfying end to what was another great season for Demarest (27-3), which was obviously the second best team in the state and the top public school. Reide, in her final high school game, led the Norsewomen with 19 kills while Veronica Corcoran finished with 8. Nikolia Kanaris had 16 digs to lead the defense while Runge filled the stat line in her final scholastic contest with 27 assists, 13 digs and two kills.
There were going to be some tears shed by the Norsewomen on the bus ride home, but not all the way.
“We will be honest about the game and the disappointing moments of it, but that is very short-lived on the bus. Everyone gets to speak about the season. It's a long bus ride so I will talk and the seniors will speak last and it is actually very cathartic,” said Powell. “It is way better when you win your last game, but losing brings out a lot of emotion and we really need to do that. When you get on a run like we did this year, I am tremendously proud of the girls. We grew everyday, we got better everyday.”
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