Historic first for Ossining volleyball

Ossining High girls’ volleyball team poses with its Section 1 Class AA championship plaque after defeating John Jay for first-ever title.

by Jim MacLean
Ossining had been here before – same court, same scenario, same title on the line.

A different opponent on the other side of the net, and this time around Ossining was determined to make it a different final outcome.

Last year Ossining advanced to the sectional finals for the first time ever in volleyball, but suffered a tough five-game loss to Clarkstown South.

This year, Ossining eliminated South in the semifinals, but now they were on the same court at South where they had lost the title last year. This time around top-seeded Ossining would take on #3-seed John Jay for the Section 1 Class AA title, and Patricia Vernon and the rest of the Ossining seniors were determined to make it a happy ending.

“That’s exactly what we were saying,” admitted Vernon, when asked if the team had talked about re-writing the ending from last year. “This gym doesn’t like us, but we just said we were not going to lose. To be the first team ever from Ossining to do it, everyone in town was rooting for us. This was our goal since my freshman year and it’s great, fantastic! I stay up every night thinking about this and now we did it.”

Ossining coach Victor Olmedo admitted his team was nervous about coming back to play the final at Clarkstown South.

“We hated going to South,” explained Olmedo. “We’re a little superstitious. We don’t like that gym. We’ve had bad luck there and would have much rather played at John Jay. We like the gym at Cross River. Throughout the game I just reminded them it’s not the court. It’s just a building. It’s not well lit, and it’s so big so you lose perspective, but I just told them to relax, play your game and try your best.”

Their best was good enough as Ossining won the title in three-straight games by the score of 25-19, 25-17, 25-23.

After wrapping up the win, Vernon and fellow senior captain Melissa Awerdick were able to go up and get their hands on the Section 1 championship plaque to begin the celebration for Ossining.

“It is such a great feeling of accomplishment,” admitted Awerdick. “We worked so hard for this. We basically go one point at a time and this feels great.”

Like Ossining, John Jay had also been there before. Not on the same court, but in the same situation as the Indians had advanced to the Class B title game last year.

After moving up to Class AA this year, a lot of people were wondering if John Jay could reach the finals against the big schools, but the Indians proved to be up to the challenge all season long.

However, John Jay coach Missi Larzelere knew they would have their hands full against Ossining (a team that had beaten the Indians in three-straight games earlier in the season) and middle hitter Vernon. Like most teams, John Jay has a hard time matching up against Vernon and the tall Ossining front line. The Indians would also be without senior outside hitter Ali Gardiner as she was away at a softball tournament.

“We were happy to be here,” admitted Larzelere. “You go from Class B to Class AA, it’s nice to be in two sectional finals in a row, and at least we got to the big dance. The kids played terrifically. We stepped up and played good defense, but we didn’t generate enough offense. I was really proud of our girls, but you can’t take anything away from them. They did the job, and Vernon is just a little overpowering. She’s a very dominant player.”

Anyone who saw the match would have to agree with that. Vernon was unstoppable, and she seemed to answer the call every time Ossining needed a big play.

Twice in the match she slammed a spike so hard that it bounced off a John Jay girls’ head before they had time to react. Both times the ball stayed in play, but Vernon would finish off the point with another kill.

Vernon finished off the first game with a back row kill on the final point. In the second game Devone Brownlee came up with two big kills on the last two points for Ossining.

In the third game John Jay opened up an 11-6 lead, but Ossining came roaring back with Vernon smashing one of her kills off an opponent’s head to tie it up at 12-12.

“Offensively we did what we needed to do,” explained Olmedo. “They’re a good team and they played very good defense, but Patricia Vernon is just an amazing player. Offensively she’s devastating. What impresses me most is she’s not just powerful, she looks for a whole and she was going left to right. Then Devone came through with some powerful kills. She continues to get better and better. Aisha Alami did an amazing job. I can’t say enough about her. She’s been playing hurt all year, yet she continues to set every single ball. Melissa is all heart. She’s a team player and a motivator. Brittany Garrett was wonderful.”

In defeat, Larzelere was saying pretty much the same thing about her players in their final match.

Not only was it the end of the season for John Jay, but it was also the end of some great careers with eight seniors on the Indian roster. One of the biggest losses will be senior outside hitter Sarah Collins as she did all she could both at the net and on defense in the title match.

“She’s such a great team leader and a terrific all-around player,” Larzelere said of Collins. “She’s beautiful to watch on the court and just a great all-around kid. Claire Cooper did a great job on defense. Our setters Katie Laperch and Danielle Sanchick really stepped up. Lauren Morrell and Jamie Cohen did a nice job stepping up in Ali’s spot, and Colleen Genett and Kristina Marttinen did a great job in the middle.”

Now, Ossining will get its wish with a chance to play on the court at John Jay this Saturday in the first round of the New York State tournament. Ossining will take on Section 9 Class AA champion Pine Bush Saturday in the state regional at John Jay at 5 p.m.