By Rob Potter
FALLSBURG — October 24, 2003 – After losing the third game of Wednesday’s non-league volleyball match, visiting Monticello came out very determined in the fourth game in the best-of-five series.
The Lady Panthers raced out to a 7-0 lead over the Fallsburg Lady Comets in the fourth game en route to winning the game, 25-9.
With that win, Monticello won the overall match by a final score of 25-15, 25-19, 22-25, 25-9.
In that fourth game, Monticello (17-2) took advantage of a couple of Fallsburg errors and strong play at the net by seniors Jenna Boyce and Deirdre Smith to take commanding leads of 14-4 and 20-8.
Good serving by Lisa Forget and Tara Mullen were keys as Monticello won the first two games of the match.
Forget finished with 25 service points, seven assists, five digs and three aces, while Mullen added 16 points, nine digs, eight assists and two kills. Smith had 21 kills, seven points, five aces and five blocks and Boyce added nine kills and seven digs.
Leading the Lady Comets in the match were Rachel Feller, who had seven points, four digs and three kills, Kelly Hobby, who registered six kills and four points, and Shanee Weeks, who recorded eight kills and five points.
In the third game, Fallsburg (7-12) rallied to post a 25-22 win. In that game, the Lady Comets grabbed a quick 4-0 lead with senior Rebecca Haber serving.
A few moments later, three consecutive kills by Smith brought Monticello to within a point at 8-7. Fallsburg responded by winning eight of the next nine points to take a 16-8 lead and force Monticello to call a timeout.
The Lady Comets took a 19-9 lead moments later on a service ace by Weeks. Monticello then rallied to close the gap to 22-19 as Forget’s ace brought the Lady Panthers to that three-point deficit. Fallsburg then scored three of the next six points to force a fourth game.
Monticello then finished the match by taking that fourth game.
“The team stayed focused in the first couple of games before losing a little bit of it in the third game,” Monticello Coach Karen Atack said. “But we got it back in the fourth game.”
Atack was also quick to praise the Lady Comets for their efforts.
“They played well today,” she said. “They have defeated Goshen and [John S.] Burke [Catholic School] this season and those are two very good teams.”
As for her team, Atack was proud of the fact that the Lady Panthers had recently received a sportsmanship award from Time Warner’s Cable 6 in Middletown. She noted that Monticello was slated to play at Cornwall yesterday before finishing the regular season with a home match versus Goshen this afternoon.
“We played really well today,” Fallsburg Coach Elisa Baum said. “I thought we played a very good match against a strong Monticello team.”
Baum added that her players may have been “a little tired” as the team had a match scheduled for every day this week.
Fallsburg lost to Tuxedo on Monday and defeated Goshen in five games on Tuesday. The Lady Comets were scheduled to host James I. O’Neill in an OCIAA Division IV match yesterday and play at Cornwall in a non-league match this afternoon to wrap up the regular season.