Fox Lane senior night thriller ends in a tough five-set loss

Ottilie Kimmel serves for Fox Lane against Yonkers on senior night. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN

The evening started out with smiles as the Fox Lane volleyball team hosted Yonkers on Oct. 8, and began the match with senior night activities.

The celebration got under way a little after 6:30 p.m., as the six seniors on the Fox Lane roster walked onto the court with their families to receive flowers and have photos taken. The Foxes were hoping to make it a special night and turned in an impressive performance on the court with a thrilling match that went the distance, a grueling five-set nail-biter that went back and forth all night long before finally reaching a finish after 10 p.m.

The only thing missing was a happy ending for Fox Lane as the Foxes suffered a heartbreaking defeat. Yonkers was able to rally back from a 2-1 deficit to win the final two games and head home with a 28-26, 20-25, 21-25, 25-23, 17-15 comeback victory.

“At this point of the season, we’ve switched our focus to it’s more important to play competitively than it is to win, and there are moments when they play competitively and it shows, and they were so close tonight,” Fox Lane coach Kelli Bravo said of her team. “Our seniors gave it their all. They are fabulous, they’ve helped build the culture of this program and we’re going to miss them all dearly. They played so hard tonight and they came so close.”

It certainly was competitive from the opening point to the final one after several hours of back-and-forth rallies between the two teams. The first game was a perfect example and set the tone for the evening as both teams battled.

Fox Lane held a 21-17 lead after a couple of aces from senior Ottilie Kimmel, but Yonkers was able to rally back and take a 25-24 lead. Senior Jordyn Forlenza came up with a big kill at the net for the Foxes to tie it up, but Yonkers closed it out at 28-26 to take a 1-0 lead.

The second game was back and forth with the score tied 11-11 before Fox Lane was able to rally and jump out to a 20-15 lead. Yonkers answered with a rally and closed it down to one point trailing 21-20, but the Foxes reeled off the final four points to close out a 25-20 win and tie it up at one game apiece.

In game three, Yonkers had the early lead before Fox Lane rallied back and Ava Rose Kalarchian had a kill to tie it up at 17-17. Forlenza had a roof block to even it up at 19-19, and Evie Santos hit a winner on the final point to close out a 25-21 win and give the Foxes a 2-1 lead.

Ava Rose Kalarchian returns a serve for the Foxes

Fox Lane hoped to close it out in game four as the Foxes held a 15-10 lead after a kill from Forlenza and an ace from Santos, but Yonkers stormed back to take a 17-15 lead and closed out a 25-23 win to even it up at 2-2 and force a fifth set.

The fifth game was an all-out battle with the two teams trading points with one big shot after another. Forlenza had a kill to even it up at 15-15, but Yonkers was able to score the final two points to close out the match with a 17-15 victory.

The disappointment was clear as the six Fox Lane seniors — setter and captain Alexa DeMartino, Forlenza, Kalarchian, Kimmel, Santos and libero Siena Palmer — walked off the court.

“Alexa really runs the offense and she’s such a leader on the court,” Bravo said after the match. “Ava Rose has grown so much the last three years on varsity. Siena has improved as a libero. Evie has been doing everything, serving, hitting, back row defense, and she’s great at all of it. Jordyn hitting and blocking, and Ottilie playing defense and serving. They all contributed and did a great job tonight and I’m so proud of them.”

Fox Lane was set to finish up the regular season with five straight games on the road, ending with a match at Lakeland on Tuesday, Oct. 20.