Volleyball: Sleepy Ends Season Victorious

Sleepy Hollow (6-11) may not have enjoyed a winning season this fall, but the good news is that the team had a happy ending against one of its local rivals.

Playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Pleasantville High School, the Lady Horsemen swept the Panthers 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-20) in their season finale Tuesday, Oct. 26.

It was the second time this season that Sleepy Hollow had swept Pleasantville. The first time came at Sleepy Hollow on Sept. 30 (25-14, 25-21, 25-9).

"We have had a rough time," Sleepy Hollow senior Lisanette Schwab said. "These past few games we haven't played our best. We thought we finally should just finish it off with a strong win. I felt that it would be nice for our last game all together."

For Schwab and her teammates, it was a win that was a hard-earned one as Pleasantville made Sleepy Hollow fight for each point in what was a highly entertaining match that included constant volleying throughout the contest.

One example of how see-saw the game was came in the second set, Pleasantville led 10-6, then Sleepy went up 16-10 before Pleasantville took a 20-19 lead. Sleepy won the set by recording its last six points.

"Pleasantville is a very strong team," Schwab said. "They are very solid as well as us. It was a very good back and forth game. They did well."

Sleepy Hollow coach Leana Peltier thought her team played well and was happy to see its effort against Pleasantville result in a win.

"First of all, the girls worked very, very hard," Peltier said. "To finish this way just boosts their moral and gives them confidence for next year. It just reminds them of how much they love this game to come in and win like we did today and it's a nice send off for our seniors."

Schwab is one of those seniors, and she enjoyed the atmosphere at Pleasantville.

"Yesterday was our senior game (a 3-0 loss against Croton-Harmon)," Schwab said. "How their crowd was yelling and screaming sounded like ours. It was really nice that they were cheering for them but it motivated me to do better."

Peltier feels that goes not just for Schwab, but the rest of her team as well.

"They play much better when there are fans around," Peltier said. "When we played Croton, we lost pretty handily in our first match early in the season and yesterday, still lost in three but it was a much better match. A lot of it contributes to the fact that we had a lot of fans there."

Stat City

Lisanette Schwab 11 kills, 3 digs

Sara Rennert 3 kills, 3 digs

Stephanie Mora 1 dig

Megan Maher 1 kill

Ali London 2 kills, 3 assists

Catherine Lillis 3 kills

Breanne Tuohy 10 kills, 2 assists, two digs

Abbey Titcomb 2 kills

Jessica Tucci 1 kill, six digs