Date: Fri 01-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Volleyball-SWC-Title

Full Text:

Volleyball Team Falls In SWC Title Match

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

SOUTHBURY - It has been said that one person will not win a volleyball game,

but Bunnell's Sarah Katinger tried her hardest to prove that maxim wrong

Wednesday night in the championship match of the South-West Conference between

No. 1 Bunnell and No. 2 Newtown.

With her team down 1-0, Katinger - named the tournament MVP - sparked the Lady

Bulldogs with her slamming hits from the outside and her jump serves and the

Lady Nighthawks, who had more or less wakened an angry dog with that Game 1

win, were dispatched 3-1 in front of 150 people at Pomperaug High School.

"I guess we got Bunnell a little angry," head coach Nell-Ayn Lynch said later.

"No way we're they going to come in here and lose. You could see as they start

to break down that Sarah takes over the whole court and they expect Sarah to

take over."

Katinger finished with 34 kills on the night and two aces and was one of the

main reasons - outside of rock solid back court defense - why the Lady

Bulldogs took in that 15-7 loss in Game 1 and then went on for the 15-12,

15-1, 15-7 rally in Games 2, 3, and 4.

The Lady Nighthawks took the early 6-0 lead in Game 1 and we're never really

challenged at all. Bunnell got as close as 12-7, but Leigh Hoppmeyer - named

to the SWC All-Conference team with Dee Conley - served up the final three

points for the 15-7 win.

But the Lady Nighthawks hit a vapor lock in Game 2, digging themselves an 11-1

hole before things started to turn - ever so slowly - in their favor. Katinger

was a big part of that, but it is a problem that has plagued Newtown through

the year.

"I think it's that second game for us, again," said coach Lynch, "where we

seem to take a step back. On top of us catching our breath and Bunnell coming

back so angry, that was all part of it."

Newtown played well after digging that hole, getting as close at 12-10. A kill

by Kristin Denninger, who was named to the SWC All-Colonial Division Team,

served up the first point in the rally and then dinked and killed two more

balls along the way. Conley had an ace and Jenn Corkum had a big block on a

Katinger hit. With Carrie Phillip, who was named All-SWC Honorable Mention,

and Jess Hoffman serving up aces, the Lady Nighthawks trimmed the deficit down

to a manageable two.

But it was an insurmountable deficit, in the end. Bunnell scored twice more to

put them on the brink of a win and then, after Newtown got two back, put it

away, 15-12.

"They are an awfully good team," said Hoppmeyer, "but we played very poorly.

We played very well in the first game and we played well in the second game,

coming back, but we never should have been down. We never put the ball away.

We were playing free ball with them, tentative, we were not hitting the ball."

Bunnell did not leave anything open to doubt in Game 3, ripping out to an

early lead and taking the easy 15-1 win.

Bunnell had the 2-1 advantage and all the momentum and although the Lady

Nighthawks had a spark in Game 4, it all belonged to the Lady Bulldogs and the

15-7 win gave them their first SWC title.

For Newtown, though, it was almost good enough.

"They are not going home satisfied, I can tell you that," said coach Lynch.

"Their goal was to get here and win it. But we are going to play tough teams

in states, and they don't get tougher than this. I'm proud of my kids, I am."

Hoppmeyer added, "We have something to feel good about. We're disappointed,

sure, but I think we have a lot to be proud of getting here."

The Lady Nighthawks finished the SWC season with a 17-3 record, having lost

twice to Bunnell and once to New Fairfield.

Next comes the CIAC Class L tournament.

QUARTER-FINALS

Newtown 3, Brookfield 0

15-11, 15-3, 15-7

Newtown's first step - Brookfield - in its quest for a SWC championship wasn't

a particularly easy one to take, but the Lady Nighthawks benefited from the

fact that they had just beaten the Lady Bobcats, 3-0, only a couple weeks ago.

History bore repeating.

The Lady Nighthawks appeared a big sluggish in Game 1 last Thursday, but

quickly took charge of the match and stormed to the 15-11, 15-3, 15-7 victory

at home.

The Lady Nighthawks got their usual contributions from the likes of Conley and

Denninger, who slammed the Lady Bobcats repeatedly with some hard hits, but

rising up for a loud offering of smashes and blocks was sophomore Corkum,

whose presence was felt repeatedly throughout the match.

It started with her first kill, which put the Lady Nighthawks up 11-7 in Game

1, then it continued with a dink here and a hard block that ended up being the

final point of Game 1.

In Game 2, a couple of hard smashes helped propel the Lady Nighthawks to the

15-3 win. Hoppmeyer started the rout by serving up three consecutive aces that

brought Newtown from a 4-1 lead to a 7-1 lead.

With an 11-3 lead, Newtown inched ahead until it led 14-3 and then Phillip

reached up high to dink a set over two blockers, giving Newtown the 15-3 win.

In Game 3, Brookfield actually took the early 3-0 lead, but after a succession

of side outs, Newtown started scoring points. The turning point was early,

with Brookfield ahead 4-3, when the Lady Nighthawks scrapped madly for a ball

that should have given the Lady Bobcats another point. But with Tuot and

Hoppmeyer keeping the volley alive, Newtown managed the tie the game at 4-4

and then started taking control.

The score was tied at 5-5 when Conley made a huge block for the side out and

then a kill to give Newtown the 6-5 lead. Newtown and Brookfield tap danced

for a while until, with the match sitting at 8-7 in the favor of the home

team, the Lady Nighthawks started pulling away.

A Phillip dink and Corkum kill gave the Lady Nighthawks a 10-7 lead and then

Conley, who had two big blocks to stop a Brookfield rally, nearly finished off

the Lady Bobcats with four consecutive aces.

Brookfield kept the last serve in play, but Phillip quickly gave Newtown the

15-7 win with her third kill of the game.

SEMI-FINALS

Newtown 3, Joel Barlow 1

15-5, 9-15, 15-11, 15-9

If there was somebody - anybody - that the Lady Nighthawks had to be concerned

about other than Bunnell, it was Joel Barlow, for the Lady Falcons were

soaring on the wings of an amazing 14-match winning streak.

After losing their first two matches of the season - one of those to Newtown -

the Lady Falcons won their final 14 to finish 14-2 and arguably there was no

hotter team heading into the SWC playoffs.

But the Lady Nighthawks cooled them off.

And it took four games - all of them very trying - for Newtown to do it.

Newtown swept Joel Barlow, 3-0, early in September, but that Lady Falcon team

was just a mere shadow of the team that took the Pomperaug High School floor

against Newtown on Monday afternoon.

The Lady Falcons weren't about to be swept and weren't about to make things

easy for the Lady Nighthawks.

It might have looked easy in Game 1, judging from the 15-5 final, but Newtown

struggled just to find some rhythm to its game. After working just to take a

5-3 lead, the Lady Nighthawks finally got a bit loose and then eased ahead for

the 15-5 win.

Dee Conley didn't waste any time flexing her muscles, either, as she earned

four kills and four service aces in that game alone. She finished with 16

kills and six aces.

Game 2 turned out to be much more of a struggle. The Lady Falcons stayed with

one or two points throughout most of the match, taking advantage of the

strengths of their top hitter, Kristen Emanuelson, who worked the left side of

the net superbly and had the Lady Nighthawks boondoggled and back on their

heels.

Carrie Phillip fired an ace to give Newtown an 8-7 advantage, but that was the

last lead it would savor. Barlow quickly tied it up and then eased ahead,

never quite being challenged, until it had the 15-9 win to tie the match up

1-1.

The Lady Nighthawks got the message and grabbed a firmer hold on their own

sensibilities. But Games 3 and 4 followed the same distressing - at least for

Newtown - pattern of seeing a comfortable lead build up, only to have the Lady

Falcons scratch their way back into it.

In Game 3, Newtown had the 7-1 lead that got whittled down to 9-5 and then the

12-5 lead that got chopped down to 12-11. In Game 4, a 7-1 lead disappeared

into a 10-9 advantage. Both times, though, Newtown was able to hold off Barlow

to earn the wins - 15-11 in Game 3 and 15-9 in the deciding Game 4.

Although Newtown had its troubles with Barlow's Emanuelson, it was the Lady

Falcons who had trouble with the duo of Conley and Kristin Denninger, who

played middle and left and combined for 31 kills. And sophomore Jenn Corkum,

rotated in for her net play, gave the Lady Falcons yet another hitter to worry

about.

Newtown had a trouble putting the Lady Falcons away but, in the end, the

hitters that setter Leigh Hoppmeyer (30 assists) had to choose from were too

much for Barlow to handle.