Shen boys volleyball claim fourth straight title
RENSSELAER, N.Y. >> It’s one thing to adopt the sports mantra of ‘Next Man Up’ and it’s something different when a team sees it through and captures a title and not just a title, but it’s fourth in a row.
Shenendehowa boys volleyball graduated 10 seniors last season, many who were part of the programs three consecutive Section 2 Division 1 titles, all coming against Suburban Council rival Bethlehem.
On Tuesday night, an entirely new starting line-up delivered the Plainsmen’s fourth-straight sectional title, once again against rival Bethlehem, 3-1.
“They had to know that it was different, it couldn’t be the same as the last couple years,” Shenendehowa
Coach John Coletta said. “They truly had to believe in one another and force each other to get better, every practice, every game, one step in that direction.”
That not only fell on the players, but also on Coletta and his coaching staff.
“We’ve had to find what works best with each game and tonight was a culmination of that, guys who played well throughout the season, have earned the job and finding what works as we go.”
Shenendehowa opened with a 25-16 win and appeared to be preparing for a three-set sweep, but the Eagles had a different plan, taking the second set 25-21 before the Plainsmen reeled off the next two wins, 25-20, 25-19 and the title.
“The serves really put us down and even with the missed serves we were still very close, but for every point that you earn you can’t give away two to three and that was set two,” Coletta said.
Coletta also played a role in constantly changing who was on the floor during the four-set match.
“He’s just trying to keep guys that are hot on the floor. If someone maybe gets a couple cold points, he’ll sub them out so they can figure out and put them back on,” senior libero Thomas Miller said. “It’s really whoever is hot, whoever is playing well, that’s who’s going to be on the floor.”
Coletta also had to manage the temperament of his Plainsmen.
“Each time out we took was just to say ‘Breath, take a deep breath,’ and even out on the court I said to the guys ‘Take a breath. Just breath and play, play what you see,’” Coletta said. “I don’t think they would admit it, but the boys had some nerves tonight coming in, just as I had the last couple of days.
“We wanted the boys to enjoy the moment and not get sucked into ‘I don’t want to make a mistake,’ and just play.”
Shenendehowa was led by senior outside hitter Douglas Ngo-Hatchie with 15 kills along with senior middle blocker Ed Gosch with 14. Coletta also called upon senior Devin Colon in the fourth set to deliver three kills in the finale.
2018 was a new season and it became the team owned by this year’s 10 upcoming graduates who also wanted to leave their mark on the program.
“We try to not focus on that too much, just try to keep it internal and make sure we’re doing what we know we can do,” Douglas Ngo-Hatchie said. “We had meetings before the playoffs started to make sure all of our heads were in and we knew what we had to do.”
Shenendehowa will face the winner of the Section 1 vs. Section 3 regional champion 7 p.m. Saturday night at Guilderland High School. The New York State Public High School champions will be held Nov. 17 at the Albany Capital Center.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake was crowned as the Division 2 champions without a contest as the lone entry with an overall enrollment figure of less than 950 students. The Spartans will play 5 p.m. Saturday at Guilderland against the respective Section 1 vs. Section 3 sub-regional winners.