Old Tappan heading for another county final showdown vs IHA

OLD TAPPAN - Immaculate Heart Academy and Northern Valley/Old Tappan will meet for the 2025 BCWCA volleyball championship Nov. 1 after winning their respective semifinal matches on Saturday in Old Tappan.

In the first match of the day Old Tappan topped Tenafly, 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-22), in a hard fought, back-and-forth battle. It was the third time the teams played this season with each winning one of the matches.

"It never gets any easier, especially when you know it's a well-coached team that competes every time you play them," said Old Tappan coach Melissa Landeck. "But that's the structure of our league, the county and our state group that you keep seeing the same teams over and over."

In the first set the Tigers led by as many as 5 points after junior outside hitter Sivan Aburus (4 kills, 7 digs) served back-to-back aces and sophomore outside hitter Lexi McGinty (9 kills, 15 digs) blasted a kill. But it seemed like every time the Lady Tigers got a bit of a lead, Old Tappan's overwhelming firepower took over.

Tenafly led by three when Old Tappan junior defensive specialist Kate Finn stepped to the service line, where she reeled off 8 consecutive service winners as the Golden Knights took the lead for the first time in the set.

Old Tappan expanded its lead as senior hitters Julia Whaley (match-high 11 kills, 8 digs) and Eva Curko (6 kills, 4 blocks, 3 assists, 3 aces), senior middle blocker Gaby Paltag (6 kills 2 blocks), junior hitter Bianca Benasillo (9 kills, 1 block) and sophomore middle blocker Nadine Whaley (3 kills, 3 blocks, 2 digs) pounded kills. The Tigers clawed back to cut the lead to 17-16 but Knights junior setter Joley Giordano (27 assists, 2 kills, 4 blocks, 7 digs) served out the set, ending the 25-16 win with a service ace.

"We've worked a lot on our serving especially with coach (Landeck) always making us serve on a one-on-five," Paltag said. "She's really competitive and she makes us want to have that competition as well. All that competition goes right into our practice, right into our serving. We always do team serving so if someone misses we all have to start over again.

Tenafly jumped out to a 5-1 lead on a pair of service aces by junior setter Mia Bareket (15 assists) and three Old Tappan attack errors to begin the second set.

The teams traded points as the Golden Knights inched closer. Curko's blast tied the set 11-all and Paltag put Old Tappan ahead for good, 12-11, with a thunderous kill.

The Knights led by 8 points, 23-15 when the Tigers caught fire with a 6-1 run to close to 24-22. But Paltag blocked a shot and Old Tappan took a 2-0 lead in sets with the 25-22 win.

A pretty strong offense got better a week or so ago when Paltag returned to the lineup for the first time since September.

"I was out for a while (about 5 weeks) because I had an ankle sprain," she said. "We thought it was minor - it wasn't too bad on my left ankle - but I'm really happy I was able to come back. It was stressful. I love playing - it's my favorite thing - so I'm just happy to be back with my team."

"[It's great] with Gaby coming back after an injury that was unexpected," added Julia Whaley. "It kind of started our season off with 'wow, another injury.' But it's nice to have another senior, especially for leadership, and it's nice having another player who can put the ball away. It's comforting and it gives Joley (Giordano) more options. They, on the other side, are not able to cheat on any of us because we're all able to put the ball away."

The third set was the most closely contested set of the match, with 8 ties and several lead changes. Old Tappan took the lead for good when Nadine Whaley crushed a kill for a 21-20 lead. Giordano smacked a kill to gain a match point and 2 points later Curko ended the match with a kill.

"It's the first few weeks of having the whole team back together," Julia Whaley said. "We're still building trust on the court because we've experienced so many rotations throughout the entire season. Right now we're just settling in with the 14 of us all there, especially in practice."

"I thought we had a good day offensively today," said Landeck. "Joley (Giordano) did a good job of finding her hitters and mixing it up to keep their defense off balance. Everybody was ready to chip in."

Tenafly moves on to close out the regular season and get ready for state competition.

"I'm proud of the way my girls worked," said Tenafly coach Jeff Koehler. "We made some mental errors in the first two games. The second and third games we played a lot better but the power they have and how smart they are kept them going. We have to keep working harder and hopefully we learned how to play for the states."

For now the Golden Knights are content with the victory as they move on to the next round and as they continue to come together as a team.

"We have a good team chemistry," Paltag said. "Our team chemistry is really, really good. We're really tight together. Some of us have had injuries and been off the court. We just got closer especially since we've had so many lineups and so much adversity. With the adversity we've had so many things going well for us. We put that into our game. We want to be fired up and we want to do the whole team as one. Everyone has to do it as one because we win as one. We don't win as separate islands."

"For us even though it's late October it feels earlier in the season psychologically," Landeck said, "because we've only had a full contingent for the past couple of weeks. We are a team that can really peak late. We're just finding our groove which other teams found earlier on because they were healthy."

The second match of the day was another competitive battle with Immaculate Heart Academy prevailing in four sets, (25-20, 25-23, 21-25, 25-16), over Northern Valley/Demarest.

"It wasn't easy," said IHA coach Michelle Yoo. "I think all of the teams we have come up against every Saturday have played a great match. For us it's about keeping our eyes forward and committing to our training."

To make it to this semifinal match with Demarest IHA had to get past Midland Park in 3 sets in the opening round. The next two rounds featured great battles with Westwood and Ramapo in 5-set marathons. In each of those contests they were down in sets, 2-1, before fighting back to win in 5 sets.

Playing against Demarest, the No. 4 seed, was equally hard as the first three sets were decided by 11 points in total and the score was tied 24 times in those three sets.The Blue Eagles won sets 1 and 2, but the Norsewomen stepped up and grabbed set No. 3. Immaculate Heart fought back to take the fourth set and the match 25-16.

The difference in the match may very well have been sophomore Adrielle Crump, who dominated the net, pounding 30 kills, blocking 3 shots, scooping 8 digs and serving 4 aces.

"She's a versatile player," said Yoo. "The passion she puts behind her game is really unheard of."

In the first set Crump tallied 3 aces, including one that tied the set 18-18 and spurred the Eagles to take the lead for good. She also had 6 kills in the set. Then Crump added 7 more kills in the second set, including the set-winning blast.

"She played middle last year," said Yoo, "and it just goes to show that any player with versatility can really shine out there. She does it all."

Demarest copped the third set as senior Schuyler Berenbroick and junior Deana Finkelstein, who each tallied a team-high 10 kills, contributed 3 kills in the set. The Norsewomen took the lead for good, 22-21, and closed it out on a Finkelstein kill sandwiched by two attack errors.

Immaculate Heart got back on track in the fourth set, taking the lead for good, 7-6, on an errant Demarest serve. Sophia Mahon caught fire, with 2 kills and 2 blocks along the way. She finished with 7 kills, 7 blocks and 8 digs in the match. A block by Mahon set up a match point and when sophomore Julianna Rambadt blocked the next shot the match ended.

Blue Eagles freshman Anabelle Albano had a good match with 5 kills, 5 blocks and 2 digs. Sophomore Lilith Roman scooped 41 digs, while senior Ella Kovalcik and junior Emma Fowler combined for 29 digs. Sophomore Kristin Lee distributed an incredible 45 assists, scooped 10 digs and served 3 aces.

Demarest senior Elizaveta Fishbeyn finished with 8 kills and 2 blocks, junior Kara Kim scooped 22 digs and dished 4 assists, junior Jade Chang had 13 digs and an ace and sophomore Maya Snir distributed 14 assists and had 7 digs.

Immaculate Heart moves on to play the Golden Knights for the third year in a row. IHA won in 2023, while Old Tappan was the 2024 county champion.

"It's a huge testament to the dedication and motivation the girls have that's really bringing us our success" said Yoo.