Lady Chiefs Take First Battle With Lady Lancers

If Thursday was any indication, the Caldwell-Livingston volleyball battle is sure to be a barn burner down to the finish this season.

Not only do they have one more regular season match, but the teams are expected to face each other in the Essex County final.

On Thursday, Caldwell drew first blood with a 25-20 and 26-24 victory over the Lady Lancers. With the win, the Lady Chiefs raised their record to 6-0, while Livingston dropped to 2-1. Both teams are also in the Super Essex Conference American division with Caldwell getting the upper hand with the victory.

Caldwell senior opposite hitter Melis Toskoy would be the difference down the stretch in the second game, where Livingston was only a game-point from sending the match into the third game.

"Melis got in some good serves and helped us pull it out," said Don Cooper, Caldwell head coach, about the second game.

Down 24-21, the Chiefs would take advantage of a miss hit by Livingston sophomore Jamie Schneck that would cut the Lancers lead to 24-22.

With Toskoy serving, Caldwell's top hitter senior Kelly McCaddin would score on a dig to slice the Livingston lead to 24-23. Livingston head coach Al Parteloy called a timeout to change the momentum, but Caldwell would score the next two points as McCaddin smacked a shot past the Lancers while Livingston freshman outside hitter Cate Lin Leu's hit just went out to give the Chiefs the two-game victory.

Toskoy said one of her favorite aspects of the game is serving. "That is one of my strong points," said Toskoy who added that the tight game was partly their fault. "We let our nerves get the most of us."

McCaddin led the Lady Chiefs in the contest with 10 kills while junior Brittany Wolf and senior Paige Johnson added five and two kills respectively. Junior Alyson Papasidero added 10 digs to the Chiefs offense. Also, Caldwell continues to split time with the setter position with juniors Jesse Sengstancke and Laura Stiefbold, who had 11 assists each.

On Livingston's side, junior Nancy Yang led the Lady Lancers cause with six kills and six digs, while senior Michelle Lee added five kills. Sophomore setter Allison Edelstein led the way in assists with nine.

Caldwell's coach said the difference came down to the team's winning experience, which includes back-to-back state group titles.

"The key was the tradition to win and refuse to give up," said Cooper, who gave credit to the Lancers. "They are well-coached and dug up the ball."

Cooper also said that what his team needs to work on in the future is serving. "We did have a lot of service errors," he said.

For Livingston's coach, there just was not enough of Yang for his liking. "We wanted to go to our strength and we didn't execute that," Parteloy said about getting the ball to Yang, who he considers the best hitter in the league.

The next episode of this saga will be Wednesday, Oct. 13 at Livingston with the final chapter possibly being written on Saturday, Oct. 23 in the ECT finals.

(Games at 4 p.m. unless noted)

Sept. 20    Eastside Newark
Sept. 22    at Bloomfield
Sept. 23    Science Park
Sept. 25    at Bloomfield Tournament, 9 a.m.
Sept. 27    at Ridge, 5:30 p.m.
Sept. 29    at Chatham
Oct.2          at Sideout 6 Tournament, Hackettstown, 9 a.m.
Oct. 4         at University
Oct. 6         at Montclair
Oct. 9         ECT Quarters, TBA
Oct. 11        Montclair Kimberly
Oct. 13       at Livingston
Oct. 16       ECT Semis, TBA
Oct. 18       at East Side Newark
Oct. 20      Bloomfield
Oct. 23      ECT Finals, TBA
Oct. 25       at Science Park
Oct. 27       at Mount Olive, 4:30 p.m.
Oct. 29       at Ramapo