Volleyball

Section Nine Class A volleyball semifinals

Ever so close

Monticello comeback bid falls short to sixth-seeded Lady Gladiators

By RICHARD A. ROSS

richardross@riverreporter.com

MONTICELLO, NY - The Monticello Lady Panthers staged a dramatic comeback from a two-game deficit to tie the match at two all, and played down to the wire in the deciding game before falling to Goshen in the Class A volleyball semifinals.

The sixth-seeded Goshen Lady Gladiators knew they had an uphill battle when they drew second-seeded Monticello in this year’s Section Nine Class A tourney in a match on the Lady Panthers’ home floor.

On their last trip to “The Pit” on September 11, they were swept by the talented Lady Panthers and knew that Monticello’s home crowd could add to the atmosphere of an already daunting task.

But Goshen didn’t approach this year’s semifinal with trepidation. Instead, they came in with a sense of confidence and purpose, fueled in part by their five-game match at home that Monticello barely won with a come-from-behind victory in the final game.

Goshen, a team that has nine seniors, knew they could compete with Monticello. What remained to be seen was which team would come out with more consistency.

Both teams were clearly fired up for the fray and the Monticello’s player’s cry of “Our House” before the opening serve sent the message that the Lady Panthers had no intention of losing on their home floor.

As Monticello coach Karen Atack has long noted, the team that is peaking at sectionals and brings its best game will win. Despite the Lady Panthers’ pronouncements and intentions, that team turned out to be Goshen.

“They were the better team tonight,” Atack admitted, following her team’s five-game defeat. “We just couldn’t seem to get six players executing their best game at the same time tonight.”

Goshen got out to the early lead by winning the first two games by the scores of 26-24 and 25-17.

In crucial game one, Goshen got out to a 3-0 lead behind the service of Concetta D’Alessio, who would go on to be one of Goshen’s leading performers on the night. By the end of the match, she had tallied nine service points, 31 digs and 11 kills.

Monticello rode the fine net play of Emily Drobysh to tie the game but the Lady Gladiators were winning the early battle at the net, added by unforced errors by the Lady Panthers.

Goshen doubled up Monticello 14-7, but when a serve by Sarah Swanson went out of bounds, the polarity shifted as Monticello’s Samantha Schoonmaker began her service.

A pair of aces and several fine kills by Drobysh gave Monticello nine straight points to take a 17-14 lead.

Goshen took the lead back, but Monticello fought back with a great block by Pollyanna Palhano and a kill by Drobysh to get within one point of the victory at 24-23.

In one of the match’s defining moments, Kearya Sanders sent her serve into the net and Goshen rode past the 24-all tie to garner the game’s final two points for the 26-24 win punctuated by two kills by D’Alessio.

Atack’s 27 years of coaching has taught her that the pressure of sectionals can cause players who are normally proficient to have those kind of moments. She momentarily removed Sanders and teammate Iris Robinson to encourage them and keep them in the flow. They returned almost immediately as the second game got underway.

Goshen rode its momentum from game one to a 25-17 win in game two to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Goshen got out to an 8-0 lead with D’Alessio serving behind the strong play of Kerri Gannon, who contributed 16 kills and 32 digs. Three service errors by Monticello didn’t help. Ironically, the Lady Panthers practice serving for a half-an-hour each day, but in the crucible of the sectionals, the normally proficient service of Monticello became a liability at key times.

Atack settled her team down and Monticello got the momentum back with a pair of wins in games three and four to even the match at two-all.

A fired-up Drobysh set the tone for game three as the Lady Panthers sprinted out to an 8-2 lead. During a great volley, Monticello handled a ball that got momentarily stuck up in the ceiling ductwork by digging it out on its return to the court and tipping it over for a point.

Goshen looked out of synch, and Palhano and Drobysh were wreaking havoc at the net as Monticello cruised to a 25-9 win.

A Drobysh block began game four, which started out as a nip-and-tuck battle that had the teams deadlocked at five-all. With Iris Robinson serving, Monticello pulled out to a 10-5 lead, extended to 13-6 with an ace by Sanders on the subsequent service. Palhano’s net play was elevated even further. Great play by Robinson, Palhano and Drobysh closed out Goshen as Monticello continued its resurgence with a 25-13 victory in game four.

Clearly having the momentum and the crowd behind them, the Lady Panthers came out on the attack in the deciding game five.

Atack chose the normally unflappable Palhano to begin the service but instead of putting the ball in play, her unbridled energy caused the ball to go into the net. It was not the kind of start Monticello wanted but they quickly regrouped. A block by Drobysh and an ace by Eryn Robinson gave Monticello a lead, but the team’s lack of consistency and Goshen’s relentless persistence gave the Lady Gladiators the lead.

Atack has built her success on four pillars: communication, teamwork, execution and communication. Monticello’s achievements have often gone unnoticed in the press, even in years that they have won. Unlike many schools that feature year-round volleyball players, the Lady Panthers go into battle only a couple of months a year. That has made her teams’ successes that much more noteworthy.

But in the heat of the battle, sometimes althletes blank out momentarily and forget one of those precepts. A communication breakdown allowed a ball to simply drop to the floor unplayed.

Goshen pulled out to an 8-5 lead, but Monticello never gave up. Sanders had a huge kill and later dug out an improbable ball but Goshen kept up its attack. A spike by D’Alessio and a couple of unforced errors by Monticello, coupled with the strong net play from D’Alessio, had the Lady Gladiators cruising at 15-6.

Monticello rallied and Goshen looked a bit flustered as the Lady Panthers closed within three at 21-18, but Goshen got a crucial point as Kiersten Ellefsen lightly tipped a ball over the net against a retreating Monticello defense looking for a kill. Drobysh answered back with a strong kill and another behind the service of Palhano to make it 22-20. When Goshen’s Katie McDonald hit one into the net, the crowd erupted as Monticello was within one point of tying it up.

The joy was short-lived, as Monticello couldn’t return a deep ball and Gannon provided a critical spike. Drobysh won the Lady Panthers’ last point at the net but a final ball dropped into an empty space on the Monticello side to give Goshen (13-4) the 25-22 victory and the right to advance to play top-seeded Cornwall at SUNY New Paltz in the final on November 5. Cornwall won that match and was crowned Section Nine champs.

Goshen coach Melissa Lazaro was overwhelmed by her team’s effort. “I told them that they would have to fight to win every point against Monticello.”

Atack praised the play of Goshen. “Give them all the credit. They played really well tonight,” she said.

Drobysh, who posted 20 kills, 17 blocks, 16 digs and 14 service points, led Monticello. Palhano added 20 blocks, 13 digs and 10 kills for the Lady Panthers, who finished their season at 13-4. Two losses came against Cornwall, one against Port Jervis and the final one against Goshen.