Clockwise from top left, Olivia Casabona and Yana Ahmetaj keep their eyes on the ball to make a pass in win over Panas. Jaime Bartley-Cohen returns serve for the Wolves. Hellen Dollar wins a point at the net for John Jay. The John Jay girls had a lot to celebrate on the court last week. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS
By JIM MACLEAN
Entering the first week of a tough league schedule, the John Jay girls varsity volleyball team took some time together to just think and mentally prepare for what it needed to do on the court.
The results on the court were impressive as the Wolves enjoyed a perfect week, defeating league rival Walter Panas at home Thursday, winning the Panas tournament Saturday, and then coming home to hand undefeated league rival Somers its first loss of the season.
“We’ve really done some introspection this past week, took a step back to reflect, and you saw it today, we narrowed our focus on what we need to do, a consistent mindset the entire match,” John Jay coach Tom Rizzotti said.
That focus was evident on Tuesday, at home as John Jay faced Somers. The Tuskers came in with a perfect 9-0 record as the top seeded team in Section 1 Class A, but the Wolves were ready for them as John Jay emerged with a 3-1 victory by the scores of 25-20, 21-25, 25-17, 26-24.
With the win John Jay improved to 8-1 overall as the Wolves have won six-straight matches. Once again it was the impressive outside combination of senior hitters Yana Ahmetaj and Jaime Bartley-Cohen leading the way, presenting the Wolves with a dynamic duo that is hard to match up against, as they both finished with 22 kills for the match. Hellen Dollar sets them up as she finished with 45 assists and 4 aces. Olivia Casabona led the way on defense with 21 digs and 2 aces.
It was the same duo finishing with the same amount of kills in the previous match as John Jay hosted Walter Panas on Thursday, Sept. 26, and the Wolves swept away the Panthers by the score of 25-17, 25-23, 25-20. This time both Ahmetaj and Bartley-Cohen finished with 17 kills to spark the Wolves. Dollar recorded 34 assists, and Casabona had 24 digs.
In the first game it was tight until Maria DeGaetano served out the last 5 points of the game with Bartley-Cohen finishing it off with a kill. The second game was even tighter, tied up at 15-15 when Ahmetaj registered a kill, and then again at 18-18 with Ahmetaj once again breaking the tie with a kill. Nalaia Nosworthy had a roof block, and then Bartley-Cohen finished off the game with a kill and an ace. In the third game, it was once again Ahmetaj coming up with some big points, and she closed it out with two kills to wrap up the sweep.
“Our first league game, we wanted to come out strong and show everybody in our league that we’re ready,” explained Ahmetaj. “I just wanted to go up with confidence and put it down for my team. Everyone is on the same page, meshing well together, our energy is really good. Hellen is amazing, we’ve really clicked together, such a good connection, and Jaime and I knew coming in we would be two big outside hitters and it’s amazing playing together, we both had the same number of kills in this match.”
In between the two big league victories, John Jay had another busy weekend as the Wolves competed in the Panas Tournament and came home with the championship trophy. John Jay defeated Rye in the finals to win the title, and Rizzotti admits the team is playing well, coming together at the right time.
“Yana and Jaime are really special, they’ve grown into that role and it’s pretty awesome to watch, and the team around them is playing great,” Rizzotti said of Ahmetaj and Bartley-Cohen. “Hellen is just an amazing setter. Riley Buckingham is the definition of a kid who puts the team first. She is doing everything we need her to do. Olivia Casabona is incredible on defense. We were missing a starter today away on a senior visit and Nalaia stepped in and did a nice job. Everyone is stepping up and really playing well together as a team.”
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