New Jersey State Group 1 Champions

 13-November-2021

  On Saturday-13-November the New Jersey Group I,  North Champions Bogota Lady Bucs played New Jersey Group I,  South Champions Delaware Valley Lady Terriers in the 2021 New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group 1 finals. This was played at William Paterson University. 

  Bogota would open the first set seving and get the first point of the match. Lady Terriers 

would then tie the score. The set was then tied at 2 a piece when Bogota, with Gyanna Hernandez serving,  gave Bogota a three point lead.  Then Ashanna Caviness served Bogota to a five point lead.The Lady Bucs held a 15-10 advantage before Delaware Valley's Zoe Blomgren lead her team to a 15-15 tie.  Bogota would break the tie and score the next fourth points.  The Lady Terriers closed the margin to 1 point  ay 23-22, until Helena Tobin served a set winning point to make it 25-22 Bogota and a 1-0 match lead. 

    The second set had Delaware Valley serving first and Bogota taking the side out.  The two teams then went though 8 ties and  4 lead changes. Lady Terriers Skylee Ohler gave her team a two point lead at 10-8.   There would be  four more ties and 2 more lead changes to make the score 14-14. Delaware Valley's Emily Kraynaski three point run gave the Lady Terriers a 17-14 lead.  Bogota's Head Coach Katherine Sura then used a timeout to settle her team.  When play resume the Lady Bucs got a  three point score run fo Seniah Burrell. Then Angelina Buhler  served Bogota back into the lead. Helena Tobin served Bogota to a first match point, but then each team forced a sideout for themselves, and when a Lady Terries return went long the Lady Bucs got the point they needed to win their third straight Group I Championship title.  Bogota now has a record of 27-2

    Ashanna Caviness led Bogota with 16-Kills and 5 Service Points. Mia Pimentel recorded 28 Assists.  Angelina Buhler recorded 2 Blocks. 

  This season the Lady Bucs were coach by long time assisted Katherine Sura. Ms Sura took over the helm for Head Coach Brad DiRupo, who took a medical leave this season. When asked about her approach to this season Coach Sura replied. Three months ago in our first official week of preseason, we gave out index cards and asked each player to write down their own personal and team goals for the season. They unanimously indicated that they wanted to be state champions, and so we coached them that way every single day. We have talked about the mentality it takes to be a championship level team, which starts with the daily commitment to work towards that without making excuses. The work and preparation isn’t always fun, but it’s necessary and these girls put in the time and effort to achieve what they set out to do since Day 1. They have grown so much during that process and I am so proud of them. 

  This is Bogota's 9th group 1 championship title since 2010. And 11th  in school history. They have won their section for the 12th straight times, and 18th straight division title since 2004. Due to the current health situation  Women's Volleyball play twice in 2021. Once in April as Season #3, and the regular Fall season in 2021.

   They will next compete in the 2021 Womens Volleyball Tournament of Champions next week. 

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courtesy of the NFHS network

file photos

Select photos from the Bogota Blog NJ collection of  Bogota Sports are now available for purchase. These may be order from the Bogota Blog NJ Zenfolio store at: Bogotablognj /Sports

( To help  support Bogota Blog NJ with it's coverage of Local stories & sports

 please contribute  at: donate to Bogota Blog NJ )