The 2019 volleyball season will go down in the books, as the Golden Knights have improved their record to 21-2. On Sunday, November 3, the girls progressed with their season, defeating IHA and securing the 2019 Bergen County Championship title for the first time in four years. 

Head coach Melissa Landeck said the match was “truly a rollercoaster ride.” After defeating the Blue Eagles in a close first set, the girls headed into the second set confident, but they did not quite get the outcome they wanted. Landeck said, “IHA played great and we fell through a little bit. It was a hard second game and a hard way to lose because they really beat us pretty good.” 

But, the Golden Knights were far from done. They came back in the third set to defeat IHA 27-25. The win was a group effort with senior Nina Trent, junior Carly Powell, and sophomore Jola Olutiola leading the offense with a combined total of 24 kills. The team’s defense was not overlooked either as senior Gianna Fasano contributed six digs, and junior Chrissy Chu led the team with nine digs to keep the girls in the match.  

Landeck commented on their comeback, saying, “A lot of teams after losing a set 25-5 may have said ‘this is too hard’ or ‘this is too much to overcome,’ but we didn’t. I’m just so proud that the girls didn’t allow that set to affect them.” 

The true fairy tale moment came during the last point of the match. The rally lasted 38 seconds, and culminated with senior Isabella Wong diving for the ball and sending it straight into the net where junior Sofia Colon picked it up and bumped it to Trent who tipped it right over. 

Right when Trent’s tip hit the floor, the entire team, along with the massive student section rushed the court, celebrating in a dog pile as IHA’s 90-game winning streak came to an end. Junior Bella Brackenbury commented on the atmosphere of the whole game saying that, “It was so loud and crazy. The gym was filled with people that had come to watch us play, people that were really rooting for us. The hype of it all motivated us to play our best.” 

Even though the girls did claim the Bergen County championship, they’re far from done with their 2019 season. 

The Golden Knights are ranked fourth as of now in the North 1 Group 3 division for states, and if they can make the “deep run” that Landeck is hoping for, the girls could advance to the tournament of champions at William Paterson on November 16, and possibly go as far as the state finals on November 24.