SHHS Hosts Annual Volleyball Tournament

Ten area teams met at Sleepy Hollow High School on Saturday morning for an all-day friendly tournament.

In addition to the host team, Nanuet Senior High School, Spring Valley High School, Yonkers High School, Valhalla High School, Rye High School, Nyack High School, Ursuline High School, Roosevelt High School, Carmel High School and East Ramapo High School came out for the ocassion.

"It's like a really big scrimmage," said Leana Peltier, the Sleepy Hollow varsity coach.

With the regular season looming, the tournament was designed to give all of the teams the opportunity to play real matches in a semi-competitive environment.

The teams were split into two pools, with Sleepy Hollow facing Nanuet, Spring Valley, Yonkers, Valhalla and East Ramapo. The other five teams squared off in the school's second gym.

"It's a great starter tournament for the season," said Georgia Efthalitsides, the Ursuline varsity coach. "It gets [the players] out of couch potato mode."

Peltier said the day helped give an indication of players' strengths and what positions they are most comfortable playing.

"We started off really slow, I think a lot of people were scared," said Peltier. "But it helped them get more confidence before the first game, which is on Tuesday."

The Sleepy Hollow squad ended pool play with three wins and five losses, after a tight win against Yonkers to end the last match.

In Pool A, the strongest team was Nanuet, who did not drop a single game. In Pool B, Carmel was undefeated, while Ursuline only lost two of their eight total games.

"There are a lot of different levels of competition here," said Efthalitsides.

In all, the day allowed all of the teams to test their strategies and team chemistry in a live game setting and gear up for the upcoming season.

"We started scared," said Peltier, "and we ended strong."