By Tony Bellissimo
The Lady Falcons rolled to their first-ever county championship, upending top-seeded Cold Spring Harbor and second-seeded Seaford along the way. They brought
home the title on Nov. 7, sweeping Seaford at C.W. Post, 25-19, 25-14, 25-23, as senior outside hitter Hilary Pavels led the way with 16 kills.
"It was an incredible run," Coach Nina Harloff said. "The girls wanted it a lot and they really clicked. With each victory we got more and more confidence. We lost eight players from last year, but everyone worked hard and contributed."
Though Valley Stream South dominated the competition in Conference III-A, winning all 13 of its matches, a hard-fought five-game win over Hicksville late in the regular season gave Harloff a feeling the Lady Falcons could be on to something big. "I sensed we could make a lot of noise in the
playoffs," she said. "We talked all year about putting another dot on the banner in the gym. We did that by winning the conference. I don't know how many people thought we could take it one step further."
In the playoff opener, Pavels had 18 kills and junior setter Jessica Tovar had 15 assists to lead a 25-9, 25-12, 25-11 win over Clarke. That set up a semifinal match against heavily favored Cold Spring Harbor, which bounced the Lady Falcons from last year's playoffs. "It's tough sometimes to beat a team that beat you already," Harloff said. "We knew we had to play a great match to win it."
And that's exactly what they did. Taking the first game 25-18 was huge. So, too, was the second, 25-18. Then came the third, 25-19. "As much as beating Seaford to win the county championship was great, beating Cold Spring Harbor might have been better in a way," Harloff said. "It was amazing."
Junior setter Diana Jiminez, a transfer from Long Beach who earned All-Conference honors, had 19 assists. Hilary Pavels, who picked up a third All-County award, had 19 kills, and her younger sister, 8th-grader Melanie Pavels, added seven kills. Junior Carolyn Hung chipped in five kills, three aces and three blocks.
The leadership of Hilary Pavels and fellow senior defensive standouts Sarah Profeta and Andrea Cooper was a key to the team's dream season. "We relied on their experience," said Harloff, who is excited about the return next fall of Tovar, Jiminez, Melanie Pavels, Hung, Joanna Burns, Kimberly McDaniel, Denise Werner, Connie Mottola, Nicole McBride and Julia Poje.
The Lady Falcons' only defeat of 2006 came in last Saturday's Long Island Class B final to John Glenn. "We lost to a tremendously talented team and it doesn't erase what we did," Harloff said. "We had a special season."
