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.”

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