John Jay Falls in Regional Final

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After taking the Section One title last weekend, John Jay faced Burnt Hills in the Regional Finals at Yorktown High School. Section One versus Section Two, the games all started close, but too much heigh, and too much hitting proved the difference.

“They were amazing. They were a phenomenal team,” said Jaime Bartley-Cohen, and the Wolves fell 25-20, 25-15 and 25-20.

Otherwise, Game one began business as usual for John Jay - Bartley-Cohen and Ilirijana Ahmetaj both had kills. One from the front and one from the back respectively, Jay had an early 3-2 lead.

The next few points showed what John Jay was up against, though. The ball tightroping the net, Sarah Robbins won the tip battle with Hellen Dollar, and Ava Goodemote crushed from the left to give the Spartans a lead they would not relinquish.

A Sophie Chevalier ace making it 6-4, John Jay still kept pace. Hanna Martinsen and Ahmetaj traded a dink and a kill with Julia Morales and Goodemote to keep the margin at two.

7-5, the teams continued to go back and forth. An ace for Audrianna Chamberlain was matched by an Ahmetaj roll, and after Goodemote teed one up again, Cassandra Vaughan gave it back with a serve into the net.

Undeterred, Goodemote wound up a winner agan, but this time there was no equalizer. Up went Chevalier and down to ground Bartley-Cohen’s slam met an unhappy end for John Jay.

The resulting 13-8 lead now had Bartley-Cohen taking her turn from being discouraged. After Riley Buckingham dug out another Spartan spear, her hitter dropped a roll and then smoked a kill for a 13-11 game.

Unfortunately, the proximity would not last. Goodemote registered another kill, Chamberlain found the floor with a second ball dink, and Sarah Robbins dealt an ace.

The 16-11 lead would grow to 21-12 on kills by Robbins and Goodemote, and three errant John Jay spikes. Big front line Burnt Hills blocks forcing John Jay to keep hitting throughout and setting up mistakes, Morales got the ultimate credit when she turned back Ahmetaj. She did the same at 23-16, and the late John Jay run to 20 points was not enough.

Game two, Olivia Casabona started the action with her standard acrobatics. Not her typical down low, she got her fist on a deep shot sailing high, and the Burnt-Hill subsequent spike went wide.

Still, the Spartans stayed grounded. Robbins answered with a kill, and her team took a 4-2 lead on two aces by Alexandra Wemyss-Purdy.

Nonetheless, John Jay drew even on a Maria DeGaetano ace and some quick thinking at the net. After Bartley-Cohen was blocked, Martinsen was on the ball and found an open space in the back.

Even better, a lead was next for John Jay. After the battle at the net went Dollar’s way, DeGaetano’s diving dig left a mark, and Bartley-Cohen justified the bruise by killing the subsequent Burnt Hills’ over bump.

Reigning it back in, Burnt Hills responded with kills from Robbins and Chevalier and would soon take the lead for good. Goodemote delivered again, and opened a 9-7 lead on two Ahmetaj spikes into the net.

One last blip did have Dollar and Julia Shepherd putting the block on Burnt Hills, but Goodemote quickly reestablished the tone. She killed from the left, and Ahmetaj was unable to answer on her turn.

More demoralization came on Burnt Hills’ ability to keep firing away, and doing whatever it took. After Casabona and Dollar both made diving saves, Wemyss-Purdy simply shifted gears with a winning dink.

No quit in John Jay, material for the highlight reels kept coming. Bartley-Cohen executed her standard push to keep the score contained at 14-10 and knocked a kill on the back of another Casabona floor burn.

15-12, the margin didn’t hold up. A Robbins dink, and four aces gave Burnt Hills a 21-13 lead that proved insurmountable.

One game to go, John Jay did not let on. After Robbins began the game with a winning block, and Goodemote contributed two more kills, John Jay’s pride took over. Another Casabona horizontal began breaking the string - the grit setting the front line up to stand tall. First Bartley-Cohen dropped her push for one, and Ahmetaj knocked Burnt Hills over with a block and kill.

All tied at five, Burnt Hills began their first pull away. A Chevalier ace and a Vaughan dink was added to a pair of John Jay errors, and the lead became four.

Too big and too hard, the advantage increased to five on a Goodemote kill and a block from Robbins. Now 12-7, John Jay wasn’t done yet. Shepherd hit a kill at the center spot, and Bartley-Cohen did it the old fashioned way from the left.

Down two, John Jay continued the grind. Bartley-Cohen got one block, Dollar turned back two on the same sequence, and after Casabona and Buckingham dented the floor twice with saves, Bartley-Cohen killed on the first ball for a 15-14 deficit.

An ace by DeGaetano tied the score, and the Wolves were howling. Unfortunately, Burnt Hills was not listening. Goodemote slayed with two more kills, Wemyss-Purdy kept the Wolves off balance with a dink and a slam, and Morales stood upright with blocks on Ahmetaj and Shepherd.

21-16, the rest was a formality, and the end had Bartley-Cohen completely dressed down. “These girls are like my family, and I’m going to miss them so much,” the senior fought back tears.

Of course, the hitter held her head high too. “We gave everything we could,” she concluded.