Girls Volleyball: Foxes win over Wolves in five-game marathon

 Jordyn Forlenza of Fox Lane blocks one at the net. Fox Lane's girls volleyball team celebrates after the final point to win a thriller over John Jay. Hellen Dollar of John Jay makes a pass. Alexa DeMartino sets one up for the Foxes. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN 

Fox Lane volleyball coach Kelli Kinlen decided to try a new approach with her team at practice the day before the Foxes were set to host rival John Jay for their homecoming match Friday, Oct. 3.

It has been a rough season for the Foxes in terms of wins and losses with some tough defeats against tough opponents, and Kinlen knew her team needed to refocus. She wanted them to relax, and the result was their best match of the season as the Foxes came out strong and prevailed with a thrilling five-game victory over the Wolves by a score of 25-16, 25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 15-13.

Every point grew more intense as the two teams battled back and forth, but the Foxes stayed calm and pulled out the victory.

“We shifted focus at practice, we were being really strict running a lot of drills, and we just needed to have some fun,” explained Kinlen. “We did a complete 180, turned on some Disney music, had a ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe’ dance competition, we just wanted them to remember that volleyball is fun, and I think that made the difference today. They came out and were not stressed, just happy to be on the court playing, and that got them through to the end.”

Fox Lane certainly came out flying in the first game as the Foxes took control. It was back-and-forth and tied up at 13-13, but the Foxes reeled off four-straight points to take the lead and control of the game. Fox Lane outscored John Jay 12-3 to close out the first game with a convincing 25-16 win for a 1-0 lead.

The second game was another nail-biter back-and-forth as John Jay tried to respond and held an early lead at 9-6. Fox Lane stormed back to tie it up at 10-10, and it was back and forth the rest of the game. The Foxes led 20-18 before the Wolves reeled off four-straight points to move ahead 22-20. John Jay led 23-21, but Azzy Brown answered with a kill to fire up the Foxes as they scored the last four points to close out a 25-23 win to take a 2-0 lead.

Fox Lane carried the momentum over into the third game as the Foxes jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but John Jay roared back to tie it up at 10-10. It was a game of runs from there as each team came up with big plays. The Foxes led 13-10, but Meghan McHugh served seven-straight points for the Wolves as John Jay moved ahead 18-13. The Foxes stormed back to tie it up at 19-19, but John Jay reclaimed the lead with four-straight points. Fox Lane answered with four-straight to tie it up at 23-23, but John Jay closed it out with a kill from McHugh followed by a kill from Hellen Dollar for a 26-24 win in game three.

John Jay took the momentum into game four opening up a 7-2 lead and the Wolves held a 10-6 lead, but the Foxes rallied back to take the lead at 18-17. McHugh served six-straight points for the Wolves including a pair of aces as John Jay closed out a 25-19 victory to even it up at 2-2 and force a deciding game five to complete the three hour marathon match.

The fifth game was a thrilling finish to an exciting match as both teams came up with big plays in a tight game. Fox Lane took a 6-4 lead as Ava Rose Kalarchian won three points at the net for the Foxes. McHugh then won five-straight service points to put the Wolves up 10-6 as she also had a pair of kills and Emily Fulton also had a pair of kills. John Jay led 12-9, but the Foxes settled in as Brown came through with a big point and Alexa DeMartino closed it out with a cross court shot for a 15-13 victory and the Foxes were able to celebrate with the home crowd.

It was another tough loss for John Jay as the Wolves have also struggled to pull out the victories. John Jay had scored a 3-0 win over Brewster just two days earlier, but the Foxes were up for the challenge and denied the Wolves a chance for the comeback win.

“Fox Lane was consistent, they were fighting to the end, and we finally showed up in the third set,” John Jay coach Theresa Swertfager-Assumma said of her team. “Meghan McHugh had a great game and she really kept us in it. Our defense was good, but we had a lot of hitting errors and that really hurt us. We’ll keep battling, keep learning and keep growing.”