Girls Just Want To Have Fun
Fallsburg Shows Spirit And Sportsmanship Despite Imminent End To A Tough Season; Upbeat Tuxedo Tunes Up For Looming Sectional Battles
Tuxedo 3, Fallsburg 0; Game scores: 25-18, 25-11, 25-14
By RICHARD A. ROSS
rross@sportsinsightsny.com
They've got game and style: Fallsburg's Shanice Mack makes a fine play at the net, while Tuxedo's Kaitlyn Ratsep sends a laser into empty space against the Lady Comets. Mack will move on to basketball soon but Ratsep has more volleyball on the horizon in sectionals and travel team play throughout the year.
FALLSBURG, NY—We’ve lost something important in America and it’s a crying shame that we have. I’m referring to the idea that kids playing sports is supposed to be about having fun. That is not to say that engaging in athletics is not a great forum for personal development and the acquisition of residual life skills such as perseverance, teamwork and self-discipline.
That goes without saying.
Lethal with her service or at the net, Tuxedo's Sara Neyman rises to the occasion. Here she looms over Fallsburg's Jewliana Trujillo.
But in the highly competitive culture we have brought to the arena, even young toddlers are subjected to the “win at all costs,” mentality; a mindset that give some coaches and parents the deluded sense that the game is bigger than anything and that therefore comments, tactics and behavior no matter how obstreperous are fully justified.
They aren’t.
Watching the 2-15 Fallsburg Lady Comets working hard to try and compete with the talented 14-3 Tuxedo Lady Tornadoes was a refreshing foil to the news about a soccer player punching an opposing player in the face and fracturing her cheekbone.
While much attention will be focused on the unfortunate event and no doubt unleash a torrent of public outrage, we need to understand the cause as much as the effect.
Such events rarely happen in a vacuum. Unfortunately, the adult role models and I’m speaking here about players and even some coaches, send the wrong messages to kids with showboating, rude and crass behavior and violence.
What are we modeling for our children by such?
Kids need to be taught about playing the game within the borders of the rules and evincing proper deportment. To that end, coaches and parents have a key role to play in monitoring young people, counseling them or even sitting them down for awhile to remind them of the priorities .
I’m not talking about winning.
Long after games and seasons are consigned to the distant past, few if anyone remembers the scores or who won. What is left however are the residual impressions and lessons held by the players themselves. Looking back they should be able to reflect on their playing days as good times highlighted by friendship, camaraderie, accomplishments and some special moments.
Shanice Mack and Isabel Mejia form an imposing blocking barrier.
I’m confident to say that based on my observations, that both the Tuxedo and Fallsburg girls will be able to do just that. That is a credit to coaches Michelle Micklos and Carlye Hyde respectively,who are working hard not only to school their teams to play a better brand of volleyball, but to do it with class and good sportsmanship.
In that regard , these two teams despite the obvious differences in their records share a commonality. While it is routine to shake hands before and after a mtach, these girls did it with smiles, warmth and mutual respect.
Bravo!
There were few highlights to report on save the fact that Fallsburg quickly found itself on the wrong end of a 9-0 run by Tuxedo to start game one. Fine service by Tuxedo’s Sara Neyman was a key part of that early landslide as was the dominant play at the net by Kali Leu and Alexandra Gundermann, but to their credit the Lady Comets fought back got some points on the board. Trailing 14-5 they went on a 4-0 run. With Jewliana Trujillo serving the Lady Comets closed the gap to 16-11.
Service errors by Tuxedo shortened their possessions. Jewelisa Trujillo had an ace as Tuxedo continued to look a bit out of focus. Fallsburg now trailed 17-14, a 14-7 run from a prior large deficit. Leading 18-16 Tuxedo had Neyman back at the service line but Tuxedo drove it into the net to make it 18-17.
The Lady Comets’ valiant efforts were soon subsumed by Tuxedo’s heightened level of play as Leu had string of aces to close out the set at 25-18.
Tuxedo was far more dominant in the second set as the service began with the talented Kaitlyn Ratsep and the fine net play of Kelly Ross. The 3-0 lead was shortened as the Lady Comets fought back within one before Neyman’s service proved the difference maker once again. In the blink of an eye it was 10-2 before Alexis McCarthy broke through with a nice point at the net.
Service please? You bet: Tuxedo's Kelly Ross gets it done.
Fallsburg rallied to close the gap to 12-8 as again Tuxedo service was not as smooth as it needs to be in the coming firestorm of the playoffs. That’s when Ratsep began a string of unbelievable shots which she drilled into the Comet’s side with withering speed and accuracy. Revealing the skills she has mastered from her playing on the Whoosh travel team and from her teaching of volleyball, Ratsep had a number of Fallsburg male fans in the stands regarding her in awe.
“I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of the net with her doing that. There’s no way I could return that,” said one who would prefer to remain unnamed. His sentiments were affirmed by fans nearby.
Soon it was 19-8. Jewliana Trujillo got the crowd cheering with an ace as did Shanice Mack with a fine play at the net. Tuxedo closed it out at 25-11 for the two-zip lead.
Fallsburg served but Tuxedo scored first in the third game before Mack tied it up. Tuxedo got out to 9-2 lead as Gundermann’s service was too much for the Lady Comets. Isabel Mejia reversed the polarity with her fine service as the Lady Comets scored four straight points to make it 9-6.
Tuxedo widened the gap but couldn’t seem to put Fallsburg away as the Lady Comets fought valiantly to stay in the game.
Neyman’s service and Gundermann’s net play soon made it 15-10 before the two teams engaged in their best volley of the night as the ball was dug out and batted back and forth to the delight of the crowd before Tuxedo finally won the point.
The Lady Tornadoes came away with the 25-14 victory that completed the 3-0 match sweep.
Micklos spoke about the game who agreed that things were a bit ragged in the first game as far as her team’s efficiency was concerned. “We’re using these last couple of games to gear up for sectionals. So I wanted them to work a little more on certain plays that we have instead of just killing the ball,” she noted.
Smiles, respect and good sportsmanship. Now that's what sports is all about!
“There’s a lot of stuff we need to keep working on and keep pushing. This is season two and now we’re heading towards season three.” Micklos anticipates that Tuxedo will be the number three or four seed in the upcoming playoffs but the opponent is still unclear at this juncture.
“Hopefully we get lucky and have a home game,” she said jovially.
Coach Hyde said, “My girls are definitely a come-from-behind team. We’ve never started out in the lead even when we won whole matches. They’ve always come back and won. It’s been their strong point. When they get down they push harder. Their motto this year has been teamwork. And it’s taken most of the season to figure out that if they play like a team, they feel like a team.”
“The bigger and better teams like Tuxedo an O’Neill don’t intimidate them. They’re not scared of anything they come up against and they always play their hardest.
Fallburg will conclude its season with a home game/senior tribute against Liberty on October 20. Liberty and Seward are the only teams they’ve beaten.
Top performers:
Fallsburg: Jewlisa Trujillo 8 digs, 7 points, 1 ace, 1 kill; Isabell Meija 5 points, 3 digs, 2 aces; Sarah Weiner 6 points, 4 aces, 2 digs.
Tuxedo: Sara Neyman 19 points, 3 aces, 2 digs, 1 kill, 1 block; Kelly Ross 18 points, 17 assists, 3 digs, 2 aces, 2 kills; Alex Gundermann 8 points, 5 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs, 1 ace.
Records: Tuxedo 14-3; Fallsburg 2-15.
Despite that fact, there was nothing but smiles and fun as the girls cavorted on the court while putting things away. Tuxedo girls looked over, smiling and laughing along with them.
Like the title says, “Girls just want to have fun.”
For an album of photos visit www.sportsinsights.smugmug.com
Travel Day
Stopovers At Eldred Homecoming Grid Loss To Onteora And Sullivan West’s Volleyball Defeat To Tuxedo Yield Great Photos Amisdt Disappointing Local Outcomes
Football: Onteora 28, Eldred 22
Volleyball: Tuxedo defeats Sullivan West 25-18, 25-13, 25-15
By RICHARD A. ROSS
rross@sportsinsightsny.com
Double trouble: Eldred and Sullivan West are both defeated in home encounters in football and volleyball respectively (Clockwise: Eldred players burst through the Homecoming banner held by cheerleaders prior to their 28-22 loss to Onteora. Tuxedo's Sara Neyman serves up an ace against Sullivan West. She had 25 service points, five aces and four digs in the 3-0 victory. Sullivan West''s Karalii Rabii was a bright spot for the Lady Bulldogs. She had nine service points a block and a kill. Eldred's Adam Schoch scores on the Yellow Jackets' opening drive. It was all the points they could muster for the rest of the half. Zak Dilles makes a shoestring tackle on Onteora's Chris Polo in the opening series by the Indians.
SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY—These days find me racing around trying to catch up on a spate of stories as the fall season hurtles towards its dramatic conclusion. As this was Homecoming Week in many area schools, I hastened to Eldred to capture pictures of the seniors and a brief interlude of the Yellow Jackets’ game against Onteora.
Eldred Seniors are honored prior to the Homecoming game.
Originally scheduled for October 14, the game was postponed due to impending rain, a downpour I withstood as I covered the Sullivan West Homecoming game versus Rondout Valley. The Eldred game could not be played on Saturday due to the SAT’s which a number of Onteora players were being taxed by so it was shifted to October 17.
A large crowd assembled on the hill to cheer on the Yellow Jackets. It’s been a tough season for Coach Pat Kean in his debut; one marked by a series of close games that resulted in a pair of crucial league losses to Chester and Livingston Manor/Roscoe. With only 17 players in the fold, substitutions have been sparse and with the playoff berth contention hinging on winning either one of those games, the Yellow Jackets find themselves on the outside looking in for the second year in arrow as their Class D rivals get set to dial it up in a rematch of last year’s Chester victory.
Two seasons back it was Eldred that was the dominant squad as Kean served as assistant to his dad Frank. That Eldred squad not only won Section Nine but beat out powerful Tuckahoe in a regional clash before losing to Moriah just one game shy of making it to the Carrier Dome.
Year in and year out, Eldred cheerleaders are a constant source of spirit.
This day’s festivities began with the honoring of seniors Tyler Knapp, Jordan Tice, Brian Grimm, Adam Schoch, Zak Dilles, Alec Martell, Anthony Moriggia,, Vinny Riina and T.J. VanHorn. Gang Green was clearly amped to keep hapless Onteora in the familiar confines of the losing column.
After all, the Indians had only one win in the past four years, a victory in the clash of the winless versus Fallsburg in last year’s season opener. Things began on a promising note as the Eldred defense led by the athletic Dilles stuffed Onteora far back at the Indians’ end of the field and then used the short field to marshal a quick scoring drive capped off by Adam Schoch’s 32-yard TD run, his second of the year.
Anthony Margarum kicked the PAT and Eldred had the 7-0 lead at 8:41 of the first quarter.
The sequence of details from the remainder of the game cannot be provided here as I was compelled to race back to Sullivan West to witness their attempt to clinch a volleyball playoff berth against dominant Tuxedo. More on that shortly.
First a word to the Eldred fans and players regarding my absence during the season and my hasty departure.
Eldred quarterback Anthony Margarum
For eight years I literally lived on the sidelines of Eldred football. For seven of those I was the sports editor at the River Reporter and Eldred was part of my beat. In addition, given my longstanding friendship and respect for Coach Frank Kean, I made it my business to always keep Eldred front and center in my lens and stories.
Following my departure from the paper to begin my own business venture in founding Sports Insights; sportsinsightsny.com, I solicited area schools to see which ones would engage me to cover all of their sports for a nominal fee and to provide them with slide shows for their award presentation nights. Five of them signed on including Sullivan West, Tri-Valley, Fallsburg, Monticello and Liberty.
Trying to cover every varsity sport season to season for those five school districts, and doing so all by my lonesome has been a daunting task. In the process I only get to photograph and write about Eldred sports when the Yellow Jackets are up against one of my schools. Sadly I missed the Eldred/Tri-Valley overtime game, won dramatically by Eldred in its stalwart defensive stand, as I was already committed to another fray on that occasion.
I have the utmost respect for Eldred athletics and will try and make myself less scarce during basketball season. Running sports like cross-country, indoor and outdoor track always find me close at hand as all the schools run against each other. In other sports, I’ll no doubt surface from time to time.
Perhaps in coming years, Eldred may become part of the widening circle of schools I cover and then my face will seem far more familiar once again.
After Schoch’s TD, Onteora scored 22 unanswered points in the first half to garner a 22-7 halftime lead.
Eldred held the Indians to a lone TD in the second half while scoring 15 points but came up short in the 28-22 defeat. Eldred fell to 2-5, while Onteora got its first win and improved to 1-6.
Chris Pollo rushed for 186 yards an had two touchdowns for Onteora. Pollo scored on runs of 45 and 2 yards Tim Schultis tossed two touchdown passes to Nick Occhi for six and 25 yards.
Zak Dilles had 10 carries for 81 yards for Eldred and Anthony Margarum threw for 139 yards.
Kean will look to rebuild his team from its strong Modified squad that currently is packed with talented freshman. Eldred will play Fallsburg next week in its season finale.
Lady Tornadoes Swirl Through Sullivan West Delaying Lady Bulldogs Needed Berth-Clinching Win For Playoffs
Facing tough teams like 13-3 Tuxedo is just the kind of preparation Sullivan West needs for its hoped for fifth straight year in the playoffs. But after losing in straight sets to the visiting Lady Tornadoes in a match that featured a competitive first game followed by two walkovers, the Lady Bulldogs are still one win shy of making it back to the dance.
Tuxedo senior Alexandra Gundermann pounds it home in a dominant play at the net. Tuxedo's advantage up front, coupled with fine service proved too much for the Lady Bulldogs after a competitive first game.
Sullivan West Coach Cliff Kelly was hoping his team would rise to the occasion and play the kind of volleyball he has seen them evince at times, something they did in the first game of the team’s initial meeting this year before falling apart in the subsequent games for the 3-0 loss.
A momentous recent win over Burke had the ladies in Carolina Blue and White looking to continue the magic but Tuxedo had other ideas as they put up a red light to put the brakes on the Westies’ bid to hand them a loss to any team other than dominant James. I. O’Neill.
Sullivan West got off to a good start as the teams battled to 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 in the early going before Tuxedo got ahead by a couple of points. Nice work by Melissa McCormack at the net had the Bulldogs back within one but Tuxedo’s strong net play widened the gap again. Sullivan West pulled ahead 14-13 with a nice serve by Erika Stauch.
Tuxedo regained the upper hand with deft net play from Kaitlyn Ratsep and the dynamic service of Sar Neyman. A kill by Kali Leu added to the margin as Tuxedo would go on to outscore Sullivan West 6-1 in the waning sequence of the game to garmer the 25-18 win for the 1-0 lead.
Ratsep began the service for the Lady Tornadoes to start game two. Neyman’s subsequent service which began with the Lady T’s leading 2-1 helped the red storm get out to a 12-1 lead before the Lady Bulldogs broke through to end her service run. Brittney Milk served for two points before Kelly Ross began to hold sway from the Tuxedo service line.
Powerful spikes led to poor first touches by the Lady Westies who seemed to be playing back on their heels and lacking the fire needed to counteract the powerful onslaught. Karalii Rabii got the Westies on a roll as they closed the gap to 17-12. Tuxedo regrouped to scored go on a 6-0 run to make it 23-12 before closing out the 25-13 win for the 2-0 lead.
Sullivan West's Rebecca Corcillo rises up to block a ball sent over by Tuxedo's Kaitlyn Ratsep.
A service error by Sullivan West began an inauspicious third game. With Neuman serving the Lady Tornadoes got out to a 10-0 lead. Barbara Whittaker had a pair of aces for Sullivan West. The Lady Tornadoes sailed along to a 13-5 margin before a brief lapse in communication afforded the Lady Westies a point. That brought Rabii back to the line but only for a pair of points as the Lady Bulldogs couldn’t sustain any momentum.
The Bulldogs fought back to get it to 20-15 before Tuxedo closed it out with a 5-0 run.
Tuxedo Coach Michelle Mickolos talked about her team which lost to Burke in the first round. This year Tuxedo may be the fourth seed though it’s hard to know what is going on in the MHAL. Rhinebeck has a good record as does Millbrook.
“I have six seniors out of my nine players,” noted Micklos. They include setter Kelly Ross, Alexandra Gundermann, outside hitter Kaitlyn Ratsep, Brittany Catino who is currently sidelined and Alexandra Savarese who wasn’t here for this game.”
Three of the Lady Tornadoes play all year round, Kaitlyn Ratsep and Kelly Ross play for Whoosh, while Kali Leu for the Falcons. “They put in the time,” she added.
Sullivan West Coach Cliff Kelly tells his team, "We're better than this," reminding them that they'v e got to play with more consistency in the coming playoffs against tough teams like Tuxedo, O'Neill etc.
Sullivan West Coach Cliff Kelly had this to say: “I expected to play like we played in the first game and battle them,” he noted while referencing the similarity to the first encounter earlier this season. “We played very well and looked good. Then they kick it in and let them do what they want,” he added.
Kelly had told his girls during a time out, “We’re better than this.”
When you play a great game like the first one, you expect to play three great games,” he noted calling this a tune up for a sectional game..”We have to make a better showing. I told my team we have to be in the 20’s in every game. We don’t have a lot of big offensive attacks because our first touches are not what they should be. They’re good servers and they put you right on your defense just sending the ball back over giving them the initial attack.
They hit over the top of our block and I don’t have a problem with that. They’re just more athletic than us,” he observed.
Kelly hopes to get ten wins to avoid O’Neill in the first round. That might give him Tuxedo instead. In either case it’s a long ride, something he is used to taking. Can you say Millbrook! The closest place was Ellenville where the Lad y Bulldogs got a sectional win a couple of years back.
Sullivan West travels to Liberty on October 19 in an attempt to secure the playoff berth clincher. “They’re getting better. You can’t take anyone for granted,” concluded Kelly.
Top performers included:
Tuxedo: Sarah Neyman 25 service points; 5 aces; 4 digs; Kelly Ross 18 assists; 9 serv ice points; 4 kills; 3 digs; Kali Leu 11 service points; 10 kills; 2 blocks.
Sullivan West: Karalii Rabii 9 service points; block, kill; Erica Stauch 5 service points; 5 digs; Melissa McCormack 3 digs; 2 service points; 2 kills.
Records: Tuxedo 13-3 (13-3 OCIAA); Sullivan West 8-6 (8-6 OCIAA).
For albums of photos from the football and volleyball games, visit www.sportsinsights.smugmug.com
