And so it begins. We are now down to the final four in every class and there are four semifinal matches today in Class A and C.

I will be at John Jay for a contest with Lakeland, while Casey will be at Westlake for the Wildcats’ match with Dobbs Ferry.

I’m very excited for my match, especially since it promises to be the first match I’ve seen all year to go past three games (hope I didn’t jinx it there). These two teams played two terrific matches during the season, with both contests going five sets. John Jay emerged victorious on both occasions, but if the Hornets can get it down to a final game again, it’s anybody’s match.

Also on the slate today, Rye Neck will travel to Croton-Harmon in the other Class C semifinal and Fox Lane will host Panas in the other semi in Class A.

Great job by field hockey guru Tony Pinciaro, who covered the New Rochelle-Suffern match at the last minute after his field hockey game was washed away. The lack of rainouts clearly gives volleyball an edge on all the other fall sports! I also never have to worry about packing raingear when I’m covering a match…

Hey guys!

Quarterfinals started today and let me tell you semifinals are going to be pretty intense on Thursday.

Class AA

Tony Pinciaro – our resident field hockey writer – was out in Suffern today where the top-seeded Mounties toppled the New Rochell 25-11, 25-21, 25-14.

I was over at the White Plains/Mahopac match and it was a nail biter. Mahopac came from behind in the first game to win 25-23 and then coasted by the Tigers 25-15 only to have to fight for the win in the last game. The Tigers made an awesome come back in the third game, coming back from a 21-12 deficient to bring the game within one at 24-23. The Indians were able to pull out the win however and advance to play Suffern.

North Rockland beat Ketcham in three games, 25-14, 25-22, 25-16. The Red Raiders were led by Keri Perrotto with 15 digs and eight kills.

They move on to face Arlington on Thursday. The Admirals defeated Clarkstown South, 25-7, 25-20, 25-23 to advance to the semifinals where they will host North Rockland.

In Class B,

Hen Hud defeated Our Lady of Lourdes easily in three, 25-11, 25-13, 25-9. Ragin Jackson led the Sailors with 13 kills. Byram Hills and Rye duked it out in five games 20-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-21, 25-13 The Bobcats advance to play Hen Hud on Thursday.

This is a must see match guys, so if you have some time get over to Hen Hud and watch these girls play.

Ardsley beat Dover 25-8, 25-22, 25-20. Julia Rose Schmid led the Panthers with 21 assists, five aces and six digs. Ardsley will face Pelham on Thursday. The Pelicans defeated Irvington in three, 25-6, 25-13, 25-18 to advance. Falyn Torelli led the Pelicans with 12 kills, six aces and six digs. The Bulldogs were led by Gaelle Romain with six kills.

Class B is going to have two great games on Thursday so if you live near any of these schools, get out and watch some great volleyball.

Class D has it’s semifinal match on Thursday as well. Keio will host Tuckahoe at 4:30 p.m.

The Class A and C semifinals are tomorrow. All games are at 4:30 p.m. For a reminder, in Class A Fox Lane hosts Panas and John Jay hosts Lakeland. Westlake and Dobbs Ferry will battle it out tomorrow at Westlake in Class C and Croton-Harmon will host Rye Neck.

Finals are Friday and Saturday so after you get done trick or treating get over to Pelham High and check out the Sectional Finals for Class A and C.

In the Class B quarterfinals at Hen Hud, coach Diana Swertfager achieved her 400th win yesterday in a 25-11, 25-13, 25-9 victory.
“I feel a little on the old side,” Swertfager said. “With 20 years as a Varsity coach, it’s a proud win for me and all the kids I’ve coached. I’m full of pride and honor and I feel humbled. You go through the years and you don’t think about the wins but about the kids. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Swertfager, who has coached at Hen Hud for 22 years, has a new goal, 500 wins and 10 more years.
“I’m going to be here for a long time. I like to think I am a young 400 wins.”
Ragin Jackson had 13 kills and four blocks for the Sailors. Teammate Kami Nethersole had 12 kills.

Hen Hud advances to the semifinals on Thursday at 4:30 p.m., where they will host the winner of the Rye/Byram Hills quarterfinal.

I’ve gone against my better judgement and decided to open myself up for criticism and mockery. Without further ado, here are my Section 1 playoff predictions:

Class AA: Champion: Suffern; Finals: Suffern over North Rockland; Semifinals: Suffern over Mahopac; North Rockland over Clarkstown South.

Class A: Champions: Fox Lane; Finals: Fox Lane over John Jay; Semifinals: Fox Lane over Panas; John Jay over Lakeland.

Class B: Champions: Hen Hud; Finals: Hen Hud over Pelham; Semifinals: Hen Hud over Byram Hills; Pelham over Ardsley.

  Read more of this entry »

Pool play was fun but things should get really interesting now that we’re into bracket play. There are 8 quarterfinal matches today and by tonight we will be down to the final four in every class.

Two of the top matches today are Mahopac at White Plains in Class AA, and Byram Hills at Rye in Class B.

Based on the regular season, Mahopac and Byram Hills appear to be the stronger teams in that matchup, but going on the road in the playoffs is never an easy task.

From all the talk coming from the Bobcats’ faithful (I love it!), though, it appears not too many are worried about this match and the focus has already shifted to a potential semifinal matchup with Hen Hud. Byram Hills defeated Rye 3-0 and 3-1 in two regular-season meetings.

As for Mahopac, the Indians are my sleeper pick in Class AA. They lost to class powers Suffern and North Rockland during the regular season, but that was early on. Lately, Mahopac has been unstoppable and is currently on a 15-match winning streak! But the last loss? A 3-2 defeat on the road against White Plains…

 Also, great job with the comments. I didn’t realize there was such a heated rivalry between Hen Hud and Byram Hills, but I guess that’s what blogs are for.

Observation (and others), thanks for the umm, observation that other local players have won that particular award. I happened to hear about Kelly’s accomplishment and posted it, but if anyone would like to post who the other winners are or email me to let me know, that would be great.

Byram Hills’ Kelly Scanlon was named the Max Preps AVCA Player of the Week for New York State. The Bobcats senior has had an incredible  season and it’s great to see her rewarded.

Meanwhile, Hen Hud is in the midst of another fantastic season that has brought coach Diane Swertfager on the brink of reaching an amazing milestone. The Sailors will host Our Lady of Lourdes on Tuesday and with a victory, the veteran coach will have the 400th of her career.  Not too shabby…

After a long day of Casey and I tracking down all the results from pool play (following being at a fantastic football game between Iona Prep and St. Anthony’s) we have them.

There weren’t many surprises, but we now have the brackets filled out and ready to go.

Here’s a list of the upcoming schedule:

Tuesday:

Quarterfinals
Class AA
New Rochelle at Suffern, 4:30 p.m.
Mahopac at White Plains, 4:30 p.m.
Ketcham at North Rockland, 4:30 p.m .
Clarkstown South at Arlington,4:30 p.m.
Class B
Our Lady of Lourdes at Hen Hud, 4:30 p.m.
Byram Hills at Rye, 4:30 p.m.
Irvington at Pelham, 4:30 p.m.                                                                                           Dover at Ardsley, 5 p.m.
Tuesday:

Semifinals
Class A
Panas at Fox Lane, 4:30 p.m.
Lakeland at John Jay, 4:30 p.m.
Class C
Dobbs Ferry at Westlake, 4:30 p.m.
Rye Neck at Croton-Harmon, 4:30 p.m.

John Jay will host Lakeland and Rye will host Byram Hills despite the fact that John Jay and Rye aren’t seeded as high. That will occur since those two teams won their respective pools.

Also, congrats to New Rochelle for pulling a  mini-upset and advancing to the quarterfinals from their pool over higher seeds Scarsdale and Saunders. The Huguenots’ reward? Playing at Suffern, the defending Class AA champions.

Sounds like Hen Hud was pretty convincing in their pool even with a tough Byram Hills squad there. Let me know any other observations you may have seen!

I just got back from the Brewster-Yorktown playoff football game. I love football, but when it’s a night game and it’s that cold, I long to be back in the gym!

Anyway, I was pleased to see all the comments when I checked my email. Lax to the Max, watch out! Okay, maybe not, but great job by everyone out there.

As for classes, in recent years, Section 1 has broken up its leagues based on conferences. For whatever reason (location, numbers, rivalries), these conferences often are mixed when it comes to classes. For instance, Conference I has both teams in Class AA and Class A.

Basically, teams play in their respective leagues for the regular season, but in the postseason, move up and down in class depending on their size.

Perhaps the best example of this is Hen Hud. The school’s number of students went down just enough for them to be classified as Class B for the postseason, but they stayed in a league made up of Class A teams for the regular season.

Hope that helps. Enjoy the volleyball tomorrow. Since I can’t be everywhere at once, I’ll be covering the big Iona Prep-St. Anthony’s football game.

For anyone who goes though, let us know how it went on the blog. I will be tracking down scores and will provide a wrap-up of the day’s events tomorrow night.

Happy volleyball viewing!

Hey everyone,

Here are the results from the seeding meeting, fresh off the press. No real surprises here (Top seeds are Suffern, Fox Lane, Hen Hud, Westlake and Haldane in Class AA, A, B, C, and D, respectively) except maybe that Ursuline will host one of the two pools in Class A and Yonkers will host one of the four pools in Class B over Byram Hills.  The Harbin Points System can work in strange ways…

Anyway, below is the listing of the first phase of the postseason. Tomorrow (oops, today, it’s almost 1 a.m. and I’m still in the office) will be two out-bracket matches in Class A.

Pool play will begin in all classes except for D on Saturday. All pool play starts at 2:30 p.m.

In Class D, the semifinal between Keio and Tuckahoe will be on Thursday. Top-seeded Haldane gets a bye to next Saturday’s final.

Note: Today = Friday; Tomorrow = Saturday

Class AA
Tomorrow
Pool A
No. 5 Mahopac, No. 12 Clarkstown North at No. 1 Suffern, 2:30 p.m.
Pool B
No. 8 Scarsdale, No. 9 Saunders, No. 13 New Rochelle at No. 4 White Plains, 2:30 p.m.
Pool C
No. 7 Yorktown, No. 10 Clarkstown South at No. 3 North Rockland, 2:30 p.m.
Pool D
No. 6 Ketcham, No. 11 Roosevelt at No. 2 Arlington, 2:30 p.m.

Class A
Today
Play-in round
No. 9 Ossining at No. 8 Beacon, 4:30 p.m.
No. 10 Harrison at No. 7 Nyack, 4:30 p.m.
Tomorrow
Pool A
No. 3 Lakeland, No. 6 Tappan Zee and No. 8 Beacon/No. 9 Ossining at No. 1 Fox Lane, 2:30 p.m.
Pool B
No. 4 John Jay, No. 5 Panas and No. 7 Nyack/No. 10 Harrison at No. 2 Ursuline, 2:30 p.m.

Class B
Tomorrow
Pool A
No. 5 Byram Hills, No. 12 Nanuet at No. 1 Hen Hud, 2:30 p.m.
Pool B
No. 8 Our Lady of Lourdes, No. 9 Rye at No. 4 Yonkers, 2:30 p.m.
Pool C
No. 7 Irvington, No. 10 Putnam Valley at No. 3 Ardsley, 2:30 p.m.
Pool D
No. 6 Dover, No. 11 Edgemont at No. 2 Pelham, 2:30 p.m.

Class C
Tomorrow
Pool A
No 3. Albertus Magnus, No. 6 Rye Neck at No. 1 Westlake, 2:30 p.m.
Pool B
No. 4 Dobbs Ferry, No. 5 Pawling, No. 7 Blind Brook at No. 2 Croton-Harmon, 2:30 p.m.

Hey guys!

One day left of the regular season and three days until sectionals – I can feel the tension building as leagues finish and seasons end.

Tonight I was back at Tappan Zee High where the Dutchies took on rivals Pearl River. It was a heated match worthy of the rivalry.

The Dutchies prevailed in a 14-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 battle for the win. After dropping the first game, the Dutchies realized they needed to get their heads back into the match and came out fighting in the second.

It was senior night at Tappan Zee and the five seniors, Jackie Carbonetto, Tina and Tanya Philip, Rollen Park and Meagan Carley, were bid farewell with flowers and speeches by their teammates. Though the Dutchies are heading to sectionals this weekend, this was probably the last home game they will play and it was the final game of the regular season.

Gabriella Reda (left) had a good night on the court with six digs, six blocks, and five kills. She caused a lot of problems for the Pirates at the net.

What made the difference in the match however was the Dutchies ability to keep the ball in the air.

Whether off a block or off the net, the Dutchies were able to get practically everything that came off the net.

The Pirates are a much improved team from the beginning of the season. With no seniors and only three returning players, Pearl River knew they had a challenging season and they rose to the occasion.

The first game of the night was a preview of what could be next season. Since the Pirates won’t be losing any players, they should be able to grow and be a threat next season.

Kelly Mulligan (right) had a big night for the Pirates with eight  kills. Her presence was felt on the court much more than those kills however. She was at the net, back on defense and at the service line raking in points and keeping the rallies going for the Pirates.

The seeding meeting is tomorrow night so Alex and I will keep you updated on the seedings and how the playoffs are going to play out.