By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — September 27, 2002 – The Monticello Lady Panther volleyball team continued its winning ways on Wednesday afternoon.
Monticello swept visiting Goshen in three games, 25-14, 25-19, 25-20, in an OCIAA Division II match. With the victory, Monticello improved its record to 7-0 overall and 7-0 in Division II play. Goshen fell to 3-4 overall and 3-3 versus Division II competition.
The Lady Panthers set the tone for the match early in the first game. Junior Deirdre Smith served back-to-back aces to give Monticello an 8-4 lead.
Later in the game, Monticello grabbed an 18-9 lead. Goshen Coach Dominique Meyers then called a timeout in an attempt to quell the Lady Panthers’ momentum and settle her own team.
But Monticello followed the timeout with four consecutive points, including a service ace by senior Jennifer King and a kill by Smith. Smith ended the first game with a block to put the Lady Panthers up 1-0.
Goshen grabbed early leads of 2-0 and 3-2 in the second game. A few moments later, a Smith kill knotted the score at 5-5. She then served three straight aces to give the Lady Panthers a 9-5 advantage.
Monticello outscored Goshen by a 16-14 margin the rest of the game to grab a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Behind a pair of service aces by senior setter Katy Schlichtman, Monticello raced out to a 7-1 lead in the third game. Later in the game, Smith served back-to-back aces as the Lady Panthers extended their lead to 16-4.
“We graduated all six of our starters from last year’s team,” Meyers said. “We have a young team this season. But they are working hard. And I think we held our own today against a pretty good team.”
Even though Monticello is undefeated thus far, the team lost key players from last year’s squad that won the OCIAA National Conference crown and the Section IX Class B championship. Kim Donohue, who was named the 2001 Section IX Class B Player of the Year, and Kristen Fried graduated and Crystal Forget moved out of the Monticello school district over the summer.
“The chemistry’s there,” Atack said of the 2002 Lady Panthers. “They are all working well together and giving 100 percent.”
As for the match itself, Atack noted that errors were a key factor.
“They gave us a lot,” she said. “They made a lot of errors. We made some errors as well, but we are playing well right now.”
Atack added that the Lady Panthers will face tough matches in the near future versus league foes John S. Burke Catholic and Tuxedo. She also noted that next Tuesday’s non-league match at Newburgh will be a “true test” of the Lady Panthers’ ability.
King led Monticello with 12 points in the match. She also recorded seven digs in the victory. Smith added 10 points, eight kills and four blocks and Schlictman had six points, five assists and three kills.
Goshen was paced by Krystle Rienzo. She scored six points and made four assists in the match.