Ramapo Volleyball: Youth is Served

After a year of monumental success, now comes monumental change.

The Ramapo girls volleyball team has undergone almost a complete makeover as it launches into a new era with its season opener Friday at Fair Lawn (4:15 p.m.).

Gone is their all-world hitter, Nicole Kincade, and four other seniors who helped Ramapo reach the sport’s highest heights last year with a Group 2 state championship.

That’s an impossible act to follow, so this year’s team will travel its own road—although the ultimate destination will remain the same. Thanks to the winning culture of Raider athletics, there’s no other approach.

“Ramapo is very competitive when it comes to athletics,” said fifth-year head coach Dave Van Hook, now in his 11^th year in the program. “There aren’t any years you go into a season with the mindset that your goal is nothing short of playing for a state championship, and that’s what we’re trying to instill in the kids. Our initial goal is to qualify for the county and state tournaments—just like it was last year.”

Last year, Kasey Woetzel, and Courtney Dolan were key pieces to the championship puzzle. This year, now that both are seniors, they’ll be looked to provide sage advice and on-court leadership for a handful of newcomers. The 6-0 Woetzel will inherit the role as Ramapo’s go-to middle hitter, while Dolan will anchor the back row defense.

Samantha Szura (back row), Cara Saluppo (outside hitter), and Danielle Federico (back and front row) played on the junior varsity last year, but also saw some minimal time with the varsity. This year, they’ll look to become core players, alongside rookies Michelle Barna (senior setter), sophomore Marina DiTommaso (middle hitter) and a trio of freshmen: Shannon Hubert (a setter), Hannah Giegerich (outside hitter), and Emma Ray (outside hitter). The infusion of new blood even includes the coaching staff, where Danielle McCartan and Sara Baral, a product of the program, arrive as new assistants.

In reality, with all of thier youth and inexperience, green will be an appropriate color for Ramapo this season.

“Based on our lack of experience, we have to be honest with ourselves,” said Van Hook. “I’ve heard coaches and reporters say we’ll be a middle of the pack team this year. Well, in our league, middle of the pack is pretty darn good. Demarest was middle of the pack last year and they reached the state quarterfinals. Last year, we were second in our league, and we went on to do some pretty good things from there.”

All the turnover means plenty of decisions for Van Hook, who finds himself thinking about volleyball first thing in the morning, and last thing at night.

“I’ve been up at night going through rotations, teetering between kids,” he said. “We’ve held our own in scrimmages with good teams, and we’ve also looked rough around the edges at times.”

Ramapo has now won state titles in volleyball in 1984, ’93, ‘97 and 2010. While the volleyball team has been strong year-in and year-out in recent years, that’s a bit more separation between titles as the other Ramapo girls’ sports.

“We compete with girls sports like soccer, basketball and softball that seem like they play for state titles year after year,” said Van Hook. “That’s what we aspire to, and we’re working on the volleyball program growing that kind of depth and talent. We’ll have our growing pains, but once we mesh—physically, mentally, socially—it’s going to be an exciting year.”