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February 23, 2010

B'town, NAC win volleyball titles

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CHAMPLAIN — After all, it was Beekmantown's turn to win the Section VII Class B championship in volleyball. The Eagles and Plattsburgh High Hornets had alternated winning the title the last seven years and the Hornets were the reigning champions.

But Beekmantown Coach Shana Hileman wasn't leaving anything to chance Tuesday night.

The Eagles coach spent countless hours poring over films and fine-tuning her team's mental approach to their latest showdown with the Hornets. It paid off in a 25-21, 25-22, 26-24 sweep of PHS (16-3) Tuesday and Beekmantown's sixth sectional volleyball crown since 1997.

Beekmantown (18-1) studied films of previous PHS matches to counter the explosive play of Plattsburgh's Olivia Harrigan at the net.

"We watched a ton of films. We knew their rotations," Hileman related. "She (Harrigan) is a great hitter and she's going to get her fair share of kills, but we worked at getting them out of their passing rhythm and limiting the rotations where they were able to set Olivia.

"We were able to get 50 to 60 percent of the balls up; digging and passing have always been our strong points."

As for the mental aspect, Hileman felt it was important to get her girls ready for the show.

"We're a young team. We start two sophomores (Steph Clookey and Molly Sorrell) and we wanted to make sure they were mentally ready. We did a lot of drills to simulate the intensity and pressure," Hileman added. "The thing I stressed with the girls was to play hard, but when things go wrong, to let it go, move on."

The match, as expected, featured long volleys and not many aces. Beekmantown served 11 and Plattsburgh, three.

"It wasn't a great offensive night, but both teams served tough," Hileman continued. "Brittany (Lapham) had seven aces and all of them were at crucial times. She was behind the (service) line at the end of the second and third games and that's a good sign for us. That, and having Kelsey Barnes, our librero, in the back row, passing and digging."

Digging was the name of the game. Beekmantown recorded 102 digs while PHS came up with 68.

"They (Beekmantown) were well prepared for Olivia. They dug up a lot more of her hits than the last time we played them," PHS Coach Vicki McMillan said.

"Olivia had 16 kills (and four blocks), but for every kill she must haven take four swings."

Barnes dug out 35 balls while Lapham got to 30. Alissa Momot contributed 14 digs with Krysten Koktowski and Clookey each getting 10.

Lapham also had an outstanding game setting with 32 assists while Clookey (10 kills), Colleen Bradley (8) and Jenna Brault (8) led the Eagles at the net.

Hillary Miller recorded 17 digs, Laure Ouedraogo, 16, Megan Gadzuk-Shea, 13, Brittany Bracale, 11, and Ashley Menard, 10, for PHS. Bracale also had 22 assists.

"My kids played well tonight. It was a great match and Beekmantown was just the better team tonight," McMillan added. "I'm proud of the season we had. We had the one loss to AuSable (Valley) that hurt us in the CVAC, but it helped us to get to where we were tonight."

Beekmantown will go on to play Skaneateles (21-0) in the regionals Saturday at Jamesville-DeWitt.

"We haven't played them yet, but we did play Marcellus and Dolgeville in tournaments down there and they both play Skaneateles," Hileman said. "Skaneateles always has a good program."

—

Beekmantown 3, Plattsburgh High 0

Btn: 25-21, 25-22, 26-24

Btn- Lapham, 10 points, 7 aces, 5 kills, 30 digs, 32 assists. Barnes, 9 points, 1 kill, 35 digs. Momot, 14 digs. Brault, 5 points, 8 kills, 6 digs, 1 assist. Koktowski, 2 kills, 10 digs. Bradley, 10 points, 3 aces, 8 kills, 8 digs. Clookey, 4 points, 1 ace, 10 kills, 10 digs. Sorrell, 9 kills, 3 digs, 1 assist.

PHS- Menard, 10 digs. Bracale, 9 points, 1 ace, 1 kill, 22 assists, 11 digs. Ouedraogo, 9 points, 1 ace, 2 kills, 16 digs. McMahon, 2 points, 2 kills, 1 block. Miller, 5 points, 5 kills, 1 assist, 17 digs. Harrigan, 1 point, 1 ace, 16 kills, 4 blocks, 1 dig. Gadzuk-Shea, 6 points, 2 kills, 13 digs.

Class C
NAC 3, Lake Placid 0

CHAMPLAIN — Northern Adirondack extended Section VII's longest championship streak, blanking Lake Placid 3-0 to capture its 28th consecutive Class C crown. The Bobcats won 25-22, 25-21, 25-16.

Northern Adirondack (5-12) will take part in the regionals Saturday at Jamesville-DeWitt High School in the Syracuse area. There will be round-robin play with teams from Sections III and IV. The two teams with the best records will then play for the regional title.

Lake Placid finished its season winless, but not without earning the respect of NAC Coach Shea Gilmore.

"Lake Placid played very well tonight. They came together as a team and they have improved so much over this season," Gilmore stressed.

Kara Perry's all-around play and the serving of Emily Garrand led the Bobcats to the victory. Perry served four points with one ace and came up with five kills and five digs. Garrand served 16 points with five aces and she also had five digs and nine assists.

"Perry's offense was on tonight and that helped us a lot. That, and Garrand's serving."

Garrand served 16 points with five aces. She also had nine assists and five digs. Paige Magoon was credited with eight kills and Chelcie Trombly, four with five digs. Nicole Durnin chipped in with nine points, three aces, five kills, one block and one assist.

Harlee Stanton served eight points while Olivia Dempsey served six. Jessica Boyer served four aces and Chrystine Ellis had two kills and two blocks.

—

NAC 3, Lake Placid 0

NAC: 25-22, 25-21, 25-16

LP- Boyer, 4 points, 4 aces, 1 kill, 3 assists. Wyle, 4 points, 1 ace, 4 assists. Ellis, 2 points, 2 aces, 2 kills, 2 blocks. Baumbach, 1 point, 1 ace, 2 kills. Stanton, 8 points. Dempsey, 6 points, 1 kill, 1 block. Politi, 1 point, 1 ace.

NAC- Durnin, 9 points, 5 kills, 1 block, 1 assist, 3 aces. LaMountain, 1 dig. Perry, 4 points, 5 kills, 5 digs, 1 ace. Trombly, 7 points, 4 kills, 5 digs. Magoon, 1 point, 8 kills, 1 dig, 1 ace. Garrand, 16 points, 5 digs, 9 assists, 5 aces. Williams, 1 point, 4 digs, 2 assists, 1 ace. Charland, 1 dig.

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